Latest editorial
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt speaks to the media outside BBC Broadcasting House in London, November 19, 2023
AHEAD of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement this Wednesday demands are coming from the Tory press for further tax cuts for the rich. The Telegraph leads the call for a cut in inheritance tax — benefiting just the top 5 per cent. Others are calling for cuts in income tax — again skewed to shore up support from richer Tory voters now deserting to Reform UK.
Against this local councils have issued today desperate warnings that key services for vulnerable children are unsustainable. These are among the 4.2 million children currently living in poverty who have already been some of the main victims of Covid austerity and the inflationary crisis.
However, such calls could equally be made for the NHS, for schools, for fire, ambulance and emergency services, for public-sector housing and for benefits. All these basic services have been scarred by two inflationary years of corporate profiteering which has also left the bottom 10 per cent of our population 7 per cent poorer — and the top 10 per cent 7 per cent richer.
The biggest strike in global history is a template for our future. The silence tells you all you need to know, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE
Four decades on, the Wapping dispute stands as both a heroic act of resistance and a decisive moment in the long campaign to break trade union power. Lord JOHN HENDY KC looks back on the events of 1986
Deep disillusionment with the Westminster cross-party consensus means rupture with the status quo is on the cards – bringing not only opportunities but also dangers, says NICK WRIGHT
RMT’s former president ALEX GORDON explains why his union supports defence diversification and a just transition for workers in regions dependent on military contracts, and calls on readers to join CND’s demo against nuclear-armed submarines on June 7