She’s trying to close a £40-50 billion budget gap but is Rachel Reeves going to hamstring Labour’s biggest policies in doing so?
The BBC is reporting that Cabinet ministers are writing to prime minister Keir Starmer and the Treasury, voicing serious concerns over the possibility that their departments will lose one-fifth of their budgets and that this will cripple flagship Labour policies.
And this seems true. How will Labour deliver its promise to build 1.5 million new homes if the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government doesn’t have the funds to incentivise builders and landlords?
How will the Justice Department be able to clear its backlog of 68,000 cases – in the crown courts alone – with even fewer resources than it had when the backlog began to grow? What about the crisis of prison overcrowding?
Similar questions could be asked of any other government department on which spending is not protected.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
It seems protests to the Treasury have fallen on deaf ears, necessitating direct communication with Starmer. Of course, nobody among the leadership is saying anything worth reporting; they’re passing the fuss off as a normal part of the budget-setting process.
The Tories must be delighted, though. It seems likely that they spent a considerable amount of time and effort, during the last days and months of their time in office, making unfunded promises and leaving vital services without the cash they need in order to function, while cutting taxes in order to force Labour to increase taxes again, simply to make ends meet.
And if Labour does raise taxes, who will pay? If the richest – and therefore most able to pay – are targeted, we’ll hear the usual complaints that the party is biased against wealth, even if Reeves only seeks to restore a former taxation regime. If the poorest, then Labour is starving ordinary people (see the scandal over winter fuel payments). If businesses, then Labour is attacking the economy.
Of course, any adverse result will be the fault of the Tories – but that won’t stop them from blaming Labour.
This Writer would advocate a wealth tax. One of just two per cent, levied on the top one per cent of those receiving unearned wealth (paid from ownership of assets rather than for work done) would close the budget gap at a single stroke.
But Rachel Reeves [pictured with Keir Starmer] doesn’t want to do that. The wealthiest people in the UK are among her party’s top donors – and, having alienated a huge proportion of the population, Labour cannot rely on member subscriptions any more.
So she sits in the Treasury, mired in a mess that is as much of her own party’s making as the Tories.
No wonder she has been looking ill lately.
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:
Is Rachel Reeves going to hamstring Labour’s biggest policies?
She’s trying to close a £40-50 billion budget gap but is Rachel Reeves going to hamstring Labour’s biggest policies in doing so?
The BBC is reporting that Cabinet ministers are writing to prime minister Keir Starmer and the Treasury, voicing serious concerns over the possibility that their departments will lose one-fifth of their budgets and that this will cripple flagship Labour policies.
And this seems true. How will Labour deliver its promise to build 1.5 million new homes if the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government doesn’t have the funds to incentivise builders and landlords?
How will the Justice Department be able to clear its backlog of 68,000 cases – in the crown courts alone – with even fewer resources than it had when the backlog began to grow? What about the crisis of prison overcrowding?
Similar questions could be asked of any other government department on which spending is not protected.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
It seems protests to the Treasury have fallen on deaf ears, necessitating direct communication with Starmer. Of course, nobody among the leadership is saying anything worth reporting; they’re passing the fuss off as a normal part of the budget-setting process.
The Tories must be delighted, though. It seems likely that they spent a considerable amount of time and effort, during the last days and months of their time in office, making unfunded promises and leaving vital services without the cash they need in order to function, while cutting taxes in order to force Labour to increase taxes again, simply to make ends meet.
And if Labour does raise taxes, who will pay? If the richest – and therefore most able to pay – are targeted, we’ll hear the usual complaints that the party is biased against wealth, even if Reeves only seeks to restore a former taxation regime. If the poorest, then Labour is starving ordinary people (see the scandal over winter fuel payments). If businesses, then Labour is attacking the economy.
Of course, any adverse result will be the fault of the Tories – but that won’t stop them from blaming Labour.
This Writer would advocate a wealth tax. One of just two per cent, levied on the top one per cent of those receiving unearned wealth (paid from ownership of assets rather than for work done) would close the budget gap at a single stroke.
But Rachel Reeves [pictured with Keir Starmer] doesn’t want to do that. The wealthiest people in the UK are among her party’s top donors – and, having alienated a huge proportion of the population, Labour cannot rely on member subscriptions any more.
So she sits in the Treasury, mired in a mess that is as much of her own party’s making as the Tories.
No wonder she has been looking ill lately.
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:
you might also like
How badly will you be hit if Tory cuts mean councils cancel services?
Can we trust Jeremy Hunt to fix the UK economy? [VIDEO]
Jeremy Hunt’s plan to cut numbers of long-term sick people: lie about it