LAST weekend, as Plaid Cymru’s economy spokesperson, I stood before delegates at the SNP’s annual conference in Edinburgh with a clear message: a radical vision is essential to counter Labour’s impending programme of “Austerity 2.0.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has already warned us that his government’s first Budget in October will be “painful,” but pain is not inevitable — it’s a choice. Labour has chosen to double down on Osbornomics, embracing a failed economic model that has slashed investment and hollowed out our communities.

Labour is signalling a disturbing alignment with the very forces that have perpetuated inequality and economic decline for over a decade.

Austerity 2.0 is a Labour policy package, designed and soon to be delivered for the vested interests that thrive on the status quo, leaving our communities to bear the brunt of cuts and neglect. And let’s be absolutely clear: there are forces, particularly on the far right, who will capitalise on the further hardship caused by these measures.

As if austerity wasn’t enough, the British government’s decision to cut winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners is yet another blow and will drastically reduce the number of pensioners eligible for payments of up to £300, cutting recipients from 11.4 million to just 1.5m.

It’s a cruel move at a time when Ofgem has announced that average household energy bills will rise to £1,717. In this harsh context, scrapping winter fuel payments for those not receiving pension credits or other means-tested benefits puts millions of older people at risk, both financially and physically.

Labour has the power to intervene and protect vulnerable households this winter, and Plaid Cymru is calling on them to act. Nobody should be left to face the cold without support. It’s time for Labour to step up and show that they are willing to prioritise people over austerity.

Plaid Cymru is determined to fight back with a bold, ambitious vision for change. Over the next 18 months, as we approach the Senedd elections in 2026, we will present a clear alternative: economic renewal that prioritises decent work, sustainability, and the economic wellbeing of our communities. For far too long, Wales has endured economic stagnation under Welsh Labour, but we have the power to turn things around.

The consequences of inaction and misdirection are dire, and they underscore the urgent need for a different path — one that Plaid Cymru is committed to championing.

We envision an economy built on fairness, sustainability, and investment in our communities, not one that clings to neoliberalism which worships at the altar of deregulation, privatisation and austerity, all while systematically dismantling the social safety nets that protect the most vulnerable among us.

It’s time for a bold, transformative agenda that rejects the false narrative of austerity as a necessity and instead invests in the potential of our people and our nation.

The upcoming Senedd elections in 2026 represent a critical juncture; they are an opportunity to reject the hollow promises of Labour and to rally behind a vision that truly serves the needs of the many. Plaid Cymru’s commitment is clear: to fight for a future with economic justice and social equality at its core.

What we’re witnessing under Starmer’s leadership is a retreat from principle, all in the pursuit and consolidation of power. What does Starmerism represent if not the total abandonment of all principles? Labour campaigned under the banner of “Change,” a slogan that propelled them into government, yet what have they delivered so far?

Energy bills continue to rise despite assurances of a costed plan to freeze and reduce them; the maintenance of punitive policies like the two-child benefit cap, condemning 1.6 million children to poverty; and the purging of those members who dare to uphold their principles and speak out against such harmful policies.

Then there’s GB Energy and the so-called National Wealth Fund, which seem to be nothing more than new vehicles for the age-old practice of resource extraction and siphoning wealth out of Wales. Well, so much for “change.”

Starmer’s broken promises are a betrayal to those who gave him the benefit of the doubt, and no broken promise stings more for my constituency than the looming closure of the steelworks in Port Talbot.

While my Plaid Cymru colleagues and I stood shoulder to shoulder with steelworkers to defend Welsh steel, the Welsh Labour government repeatedly urged us to wait for a Westminster Labour government. “They have a plan,” we were told, but we’re still in the dark and none the wiser about Labour’s actual intentions.

And now, the October Budget looms, shrouded in warnings of pain and inevitability. They tell us that cuts must be made, that there is no alternative. But we know there is. Austerity is not the only path; it is a choice made by those who refuse to challenge the existing economic order.

Luke Fletcher is MS for South Wales West and the Plaid Cymru economy spokesperson. Follow him on X @FletcherPlaid.