Look at all the scaremongering over the national finances: Labour’s strategy on money is the same as the Tories in 2010.
Back then, David Cameron and George Osborne argued that Labour in power had crashed the economy and left the government with no cash – and that was why austerity was essential.
It was a lie, of course – austerity meant less money was spent on public services, and instead of using the savings to reduce the national debt and deficit, the Tories cut taxes for the richest in society, vastly increasing wealth inequality. That was their secret plan.
Labour’s claim is that it will make everybody more wealthy by boosting the economy. This Writer has serious doubts about that, because more profits for business can only help workers if they are translated into higher pay packets, and bosses haven’t wanted to increase pay – in real terms – for more than a decade.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
But Labour is also – now – saying that the Tories have run public services into the ground by starving them of funding, leaving the new government with (guess what?) no cash.
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves went into the election campaign saying they would have to make hard decisions but they would not increase income tax, National Insurance, VAT or corporation tax, nor would they borrow extra money for day-to-day spending.
But they have already said that since the election they have discovered even more wrong with the system left to them by the Tories than they expected – along with eye-watering new spending demands.
There’s a public sector pay deal in which independent pay review bodies have said teachers and nurses should get almost three times the increase the new government had expected. That’s a difference you can count in billions of pounds.
And other pay deals are yet to be discussed across the public sector.
The Rwanda deportation scheme for refugees and asylum-seekers apparently cost hundreds of millions of pounds before Labour terminated it. Some of that cash can be re-absorbed because it relates to civil service pay – but not all of it.
Remember the Tory promise to build 40 new hospitals? Apparently hospital building programmes in England are costing much more than was in their budget.
And there will be other spending commitments after the Autumn Statement – “in-year pressures” will need to be accommodated immediately.
The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said the government would publish a breakdown of the extra financial pressures on it before Parliament goes into its summer recess. That report will come out on Monday.
And then the blame will start to fly and undoubtedly even more similarities between the Tories and Labour will be revealed.
I have notified my popcorn supplier as an extra large amount may be required.
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Cruel Britannia is available
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The Livingstone Presumption is available
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Health Warning: Government! is now available
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The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
Labour’s strategy on money is the same as the Tories in 2010
Look at all the scaremongering over the national finances: Labour’s strategy on money is the same as the Tories in 2010.
Back then, David Cameron and George Osborne argued that Labour in power had crashed the economy and left the government with no cash – and that was why austerity was essential.
It was a lie, of course – austerity meant less money was spent on public services, and instead of using the savings to reduce the national debt and deficit, the Tories cut taxes for the richest in society, vastly increasing wealth inequality. That was their secret plan.
Labour’s claim is that it will make everybody more wealthy by boosting the economy. This Writer has serious doubts about that, because more profits for business can only help workers if they are translated into higher pay packets, and bosses haven’t wanted to increase pay – in real terms – for more than a decade.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
But Labour is also – now – saying that the Tories have run public services into the ground by starving them of funding, leaving the new government with (guess what?) no cash.
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves went into the election campaign saying they would have to make hard decisions but they would not increase income tax, National Insurance, VAT or corporation tax, nor would they borrow extra money for day-to-day spending.
But they have already said that since the election they have discovered even more wrong with the system left to them by the Tories than they expected – along with eye-watering new spending demands.
There’s a public sector pay deal in which independent pay review bodies have said teachers and nurses should get almost three times the increase the new government had expected. That’s a difference you can count in billions of pounds.
And other pay deals are yet to be discussed across the public sector.
The Rwanda deportation scheme for refugees and asylum-seekers apparently cost hundreds of millions of pounds before Labour terminated it. Some of that cash can be re-absorbed because it relates to civil service pay – but not all of it.
Remember the Tory promise to build 40 new hospitals? Apparently hospital building programmes in England are costing much more than was in their budget.
And there will be other spending commitments after the Autumn Statement – “in-year pressures” will need to be accommodated immediately.
The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said the government would publish a breakdown of the extra financial pressures on it before Parliament goes into its summer recess. That report will come out on Monday.
And then the blame will start to fly and undoubtedly even more similarities between the Tories and Labour will be revealed.
I have notified my popcorn supplier as an extra large amount may be required.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Join the uPopulus group at https://upopulus.com/groups/vox-political/
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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