Incoming ministers ‘will face UK public services on brink of collapse’ | Austerity
https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/jun/07/incoming-ministers-will-face-uk-public-services-on-brink-of-collapse?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
Posted by CoolCoolBeans
19 Comments
Well Kier says there’s no money to fix anything and investment to reverse austerity supposedly won’t fix anything anyway so guess they’re gonna collapse.
Meanwhile pre-leadership Kier said he was going to reverse austerity because the UK has the means and that investment in public services will address the shortfalls those public services need.
This is the problem with the promises of when he says “when circumstances allow”
They will never allow not for at least a decade
Here is the choice. We either spend spend spend to bring our country back to a good level of service for our old people, sick and young…or we are fucked..price is immaterial…our kids will thank us…the same goes for the climate!
It goes to show just how bad Tory economic policy has been over the past 14 years. We are in a far worse place than 2010.
I’m a basic rate taxpayer, and would accept an increase in tax if it was to be spent improving public services. I’d only really be happy to do this if the tax loopholes the “super rich” and corporations use are tied-up beforehand. Start with them.
Which means privatisation is inevitable. If the government has no money to fix services, they will turn to those who do (often the lowest bidder). The Tories have scorched the Earth for themselves and Labour over the last fourteen years, meaning there is no choice but to turn to the private sector to prop the UK up. Remember, none of them are going to tax the wealthy to help raise money that could be put to good use here.
It’s because nobody is being honest about tax. Whoever wins will have to raise taxes to plug the gap. There isn’t a choice. Everyone knows it but nobody knows wants to talk about it. Even re-joining the customs union would increase growth. But again, nobody wants to touch it. It’s crazy! Our so-called “leaders” are too scared to talk about any of this during an election campaign.
Can someone tell me why austerity is the answer to everything even though it has been proven to be not working?
I love how the Guardian has this in their ‘Austerity’ section.
Meanwhile, in the real world, Public spending to GDP is back to the record levels of the Gordon Brown era (even beyond it if you count the one-off Covid spending).
https://www.statista.com/statistics/298478/public-sector-expenditure-as-share-of-gdp-united-kingdom-uk/
It does make you wonder what it would take to no longer be in ‘austerity’ any more…
Its by design.
Scorched earth, trash number 10 for Labour to spend 5 years picking up the pieces. Constantly peddle the narrative that Labour are terrible because they haven’t cleaned up 14 years worth of mess in 5 minutes, and then in 2029 try and get in by either:
Copying Labours centrist manifesto with a fresh faced leader to sneak in as they did in 2010.
Go full alt-right by merging with Reform.
(Pick one or the other depending on the mood of the proverbial room in 2029)
I say we flog everything in the British museum. Gotta be worth a few quid.
Legalise weed, at medical strength and tax it. Tax landbanks owned by developers that haven’t been built on in five years. No longer bail out failing companies, and if national infrastructure companies go bust, i.e. water, then take it back in-house for free and keep it public. Borrow to invest in infrastructure building to get money back into local economies.
There are things that can be done. Austerity will still be a choice and if Keir chooses it, he will only be in for one term.
This is a clear heads up that austerity will continue. Labour approves this message. Phew, and there was me thinking they would tackle the problems created under the Tories /s
I work in public services. The brink was about two years ago, we’re in free fall at the moment.
Well worth a decade and a half of the most smug, feckless, dishonest and corrupt @$$holes telling us it was all for our own good, and ending up worse off than when they started.
Bastards.
What and people have only just realised this? Seriously?
And history repeats itself lol. When the Tories won in 2010 there was a note left in number 11 by Liam Bryne. The outgoing Treasury Secretary, reading “I’m sorry, there’s no money left”.
Ultimately, the maintenance of a robust welfare state relies on a broad and healthy middle class that are largely self-sufficient and constitute a reliable tax base. Yes, we should demand that the wealthy pay a bigger share, but it cannot make up for the erosion of a strong middle.
Political stability and long-term nation building are only possible when a broad middle class feels invested in the society, dares to be aspirational, and perceives that the communities their taxes fund do enable and support them.
Investments in public services and jobs creation seem necessary to build that foundation. The risk is that the politicians (enabled by us) have let the erosion go so far that the hill looks too painful to climb.
Maybe electing another government isn’t the answer.