On 23 September we responded to the “mini-budget” (Mini-Budget - The Rich Continue to Benefit) not only outlining the specific risks it posed but also emphasising that this suggested an acceleration of the political extremism that has dominated UK public policy for decades. This is rooted in the primacy of capitalist demands that prioritise profit-seeking individualism over the need to build a society that invests in public services and provides a social security system that could support us all “from the cradle to the grave”.
There are times, however, when Governments, even those who appear to have every political advantage in their favour – a huge Commons majority and supportive press for example – can squander this through their own reckless over-confidence and incompetence. This has proven to be the case with the current Westminster government now reversing most of the proposals outlined less than a month ago, although it appears that lifting the cap on bankers’ bonuses will stay. But this is not about consequence-free political theatre as in the real world the repercussions of this ineptitude are not so easily switched ‘on’ or ‘off’. Instead Government actions have triggered actual and forecast interest rate rises with related cost increases that will increase personal and mortgage (and related rental) payments for millions of people. Furthermore, the announcements from Jeremy Hunt, the austerity Health Secretary from 2012-18 and fourth Chancellor of the Exchequer in as many months also forecast that cuts (so-called decisions of “eye-watering difficulty”) will be on the agenda despite a Prime Ministerial statement in the House of Commons a week ago that this would not be the case. Such austerity, as we know, whether delivered from Westminster or Stormont failed and damaged our society for over a decade and we still live in a world diminished by it.
It has been stated that further detail of the UK Government’s plans will be revealed on 31 October and that this, unlike the initial mini budget, will be accompanied by analysis from the Office for Budget Responsibility. If this does happen – and what happens on a daily basis is hard to predict - we will respond. While there is much political uncertainty – there is a clear intent from the ruling class that workers, as always, will be expected to pay the price of this chaos irrespective of who enters the ever-revolving doors of No.s 10 and 11 Downing Street. This is shown by the fact that the “markets” may not like uncertainty but have always been very relaxed, indeed are “steadied” by the forecast cruelty and negligence of austerity. Our members and their families deserve better most specifically to have their pay and benefits protected from and uprated above punitive inflation rates and we will work with our allies in the wider trade union movement to resist this toxic ideology.