Note to ministers: cutting services doesn’t make need go away

The British economy is growing much less than previously assumed, so the Social Democratic government has created a frantic pranklist, and it is also supposed to go to social benefits. By Christoph Prössl.

Note to ministers: cutting services doesn’t make need go away

From emergency housing to employment dispute resolution, the government’s cutbacks are a misguided attempt to shrink our sense of what constitutes the public good – and it’s not an issue that solely affects the poor and the weak. When even employers are complaining about public service cuts in the National Business Review, the organ of the country’s corporate elite, it’s a sign that the shortcomings of the government’s cost-cutting agenda are sp…

'Keir Starmer's Government Should Stop the Austerity Denial About These Cuts'

The uncomfortable truth about Starmer and Reeves's economic project is it is grim for living standards, public services and recipients of welfare, and should be opposed by all, argues his former senior adviser Simon Fletcher

Fifteen years ago, we heard George Osborne announce a period of austerity in the United Kingdom, which was an ideological choice to reduce the size of the state rather than a financial necessity. That decision led to suffering on a terrible scale, with food banks becoming a normal part of the lives of millions of people, the cost of living rising and wages stagnating.