FRAN HEATHCOTE believes that while the the Chancellor outlined some positive steps, the government does not appreciate the scale of the cost-of-living crisis affecting working-class people, whose lives are blighted by endemic low pay
LAST week’s Budget was nothing less than a deliberate slap in the face to all those who were hoping for some relief from the austerity agenda, as the Chancellor added calculated insult to repeated injury.
It was widely trailed in the media that the Tories were going to lift the public-sector pay cap after pressure from all sides, including their backbenchers, but as it turned out there was nothing concrete on offer for working people, no real money on the table, only vagueness, evasion and endless reviews.
The only difference between this Chancellor and the previous one is that of style not substance. Where George Osborne could best be described as a tin of gloss — superficially painting over the cracks in our broken economy — Philip Hammond is the tin of matt, hoping to hide the worst lumps and bumps with repeated applications of more of the same.
Almost half of universities face deficits, merger mania is taking hold, and massive fee hikes that will lock out working-class students are on the horizon, write RUBEN BRETT, PAUL WHITEHOUSE and DAN GRACE
JOE GILL looks at research on the reasons people voted as they did last week and concludes Labour is finished unless it ditches Starmer and changes course



