As the RMT Health and Safety Conference takes place, the union is calling for urgent action on crisis of work-related stress, understaffing and the growing threat of workplace assaults. RMT leader EDDIE DEMPSEY explains
JEREMY HUNT’S latest Budget continued themes of all his previous fiscal interventions. He takes from the poor to give to the rich and takes from working people to give to big business. But austerity has been imposed for so long that it has brought the economy to a virtual standstill, and the impact on living standards will get worse.
This then is the key domestic challenge for an incoming Labour government. Unfortunately, all the signs are that the current Labour leadership is completely wedded to austerity. Forcing sick people to work is not a recipe for higher living standards.
To leave no doubt, the shadow chief secretary even took to the airwaves to proclaim the party’s full adoption of the austerity policy. If the party persists with this line in office, it will have disastrous political and economic consequences.
The 2025 Budget shores up the PM’s political position with headline-grabbing welfare U-turns, but with no improvements on offer to declining public services or living standards, writes MICHAEL BURKE



