UNIONS largely welcomed Labour’s Budget for pledging money for public services and capital investment yesterday.
But the Unite union led condemnation of the absence of a wealth tax.
The policy secured the support of both the Labour Party at its conference and at the TUC Congress, but Chancellor Rachel Reeves neglected to include it amid £40 billion in tax rises to plug the £22bn “black hole” inherited from the Tories.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “The Chancellor’s continued failure to ensure the super-rich pay their fair share is a mis-step.
“A 1 per cent tax on the richest 1 per cent would create £25bn: black hole gone and vital money in to support public services.”
The string of hikes announced by the Chancellor include increases on capital gains tax and a 50 per cent increase in air passenger duty for those travelling on private jets.
TUC general Secretary Paul Nowak said: “Tax rises will ensure much-needed funds for our NHS, schools and the rest of our crumbling public services, with those who have the broadest shoulders paying a fairer share.”
While welcoming windfall taxes on oil and gas and a £22.6bn increase in NHS day-to-day funding, Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack said there were “significant missed opportunities.”
He said: “Having the lowest corporation tax in the G7 is not something to boast about it — it is a symptom of a broken economic model in which profits are prioritised above the needs and safety of the public.
“While a real-terms increase in day-to-day spending should ease some pressures, the government must go further and faster in rebuilding our broken public services,” he said.
He added that the FBU will fight hard for a funding boost for the fire and rescue service, which has lost 30 per cent of its central government funding since 2010.
Ms Reeves announced that employer National Insurance contributions will rise by 1.2 per cent.
University & College Union general secretary Jo Grady said that this will “hit the sector hard when higher education is already on its knees.
“Universities are crying out for increased public funding to secure their future as Britain’s last world-leading sector, yet the Chancellor failed to deliver.”
The government did announce extra funding for schools, including £1.4bn to help rebuild crumbling classrooms.
National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede said: “The additional funding announced today is a welcome injection but still falls short of what is needed to rebuild education, including the investment needed to reverse pay cuts and tackle sky-high workload.
“A commitment to continue the school rebuilding programme is important but the Chancellor’s investment is a small dent in the £40bn cumulative cut to school capital funding since 2010.”
Transport union RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “We welcome the Chancellor’s move in relaxing fiscal rules, something we’ve campaigned for, which will allow greater investment in public transport infrastructure and benefit the country as a whole.
“We now need to see bold and ambitious plans to invest in our public infrastructure, and RMT will be campaigning into next year’s spending review to make sure public transport can play its key role in national renewal.”
Civil Service union PCS leader Fran Heathcote accused the government of “giving with one hand and taking with the other” as it demanded 2 per cent efficiency savings from government departments while pledging to raise their real-terms budgets by 1.7 per cent.
