THERE will be few surprises when Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivers her first Budget today. In these days of carefully scripted media management, almost everything is leaked ahead of the Budget speech. Nor should socialists be surprised at Labour’s trajectory. It’s not like they’ve been hiding it.
The Labour leadership has been bending over backwards to prepare the ground for more pain, amid so-called “tough choices,” while making noises about “preventing austerity” with a sleight of hand that no-one who cares about public services, poverty and the welfare of our communities should be fooled by.
No-one is preventing austerity. Austerity never went away, and it is still with us under Labour. By sticking with their fiscal rules, the government is guaranteeing further austerity cuts and the decimation of our council services, mental health support, libraries, and arts provision — just to name a few.
