There are three nailed on certainties in this world: death, taxes, and Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves making so-called “difficult decisions”. Reeves repeated this utterly meaningless soundbite no fewer than ten times in thirty minutes in her budget announcement on Monday. It’s already so old and overused that it’s covered in more dusty cobwebs than “my dad’s a toolmaker”.
Don’t be fooled by this narrative that Labour are somehow the victim of being forced to make choices. Every decision is a difficult decision – welcome to politics. Clearly the red rose is still a bit rusty from being out of government for 14 years.
Unfortunately, though, Labour’s rose is wilting before it has even had a chance to bloom.
Reeves’ announcement was about a £22 billion ‘black hole’ in public finances that she has suddenly discovered. You would expect this to be quickly followed by spending cuts to get the debt down. But no. Instead, Labour have agreed a 22% pay rise for junior doctors and will meet all the demands of other public sector workers – which, all in all, will cost £9 billion a year.
I’m afraid this does not wash with me. Don’t complain that you haven’t got any money before blowing billions on ludicrously high pay rises. I think we all agree that our excellent NHS staff deserve a pay rise – but nobody gets an astronomical 22% raise. Not even in fairytales or a Hollywood blockbuster.
What’s more, Reeves openly admitted that NHS strikes last year cost £1.7 billion and cancelled 1.4 million appointments. That means a heck of a lot of your money is now landing in the pay packets of the people who cancelled your GP appointment – which seems unfair.
It was predictable from a million miles away that, if elected, Labour would fold like a cheap tent to union demands. The party’s war chest has been bankrolled by trade unions forever – counting for almost £65 million between 2010 and 2015 and £2.4 million during the 2024 General Election campaign alone. It’s a political decision to line the pockets of the hand that feeds.
And it is equally a political decision to take from the enemy. 46% of 70+ year-olds voted Conservative in the 2024 election – so it’s unsurprising that true-blue pensioners will be paying the price. Reeves is scrapping winter fuel payments for around 10 million pensioners, as well as scrapping social care reforms to cap lifetime care costs to £35,000.
Can you imagine the apoplectic outrage from Labour if it was a Conservative government taking money away from pensioners? Not long ago, Keir Starmer asked former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to promise he wouldn’t take winter fuel payments away from pensioners. In less than a month in Number 10, Starmer has done exactly that.
But the worst part about all of this is that Reeves is acting like she can fix the British economy with a few spending cuts. Oh, please. Nobody wants to see a £22 billion budget pressure, but what’s that in an economy worth £2.6 trillion where 99.5% of it is borrowed money? In short, Labour are kicking up a political stir about a few pennies that we’re borrowing anyway.
Closing this gap is a drop in the ocean when it comes to the state of Britain’s public finances – as with all economies after Covid-19. But awarding a 22% pay rise to disruptors whilst suffocating pensioners and those relying on social care risks a tsunami of suffering for vulnerable people. And all of this hurt for a political stunt to try and lay the blame at the Conservatives’ door.
This isn’t a one-off incident. We’ve heard a lot of noise from Labour, claiming they have inherited the worst economy since World War II. Who are you trying to hoodwink? Britain is the fastest growing economy in the G7 and inflation is back to the normal 2% target. Considering we had an unprecedented global pandemic and a war in Ukraine that skyrocketed fertiliser costs and so increased food prices, Britain is in a better state than most.
How dare you blame the “recklessness” of the outgoing Conservative government that paid workers furlough during the pandemic, restarted the economy and brought inflation back under control, when you award a 22% pay rise to picket line protestors and squeeze social care?
We haven’t even mentioned the real reason why there’s a budget black hole yet. It’s because Labour is doing all this spending – including £23.7 billion on green stuff whilst carpet bombing the green belt with 371,000 homes a year – without increasing income tax, NI or VAT. I have argued countless times that Starmer left himself no wiggle room and is trying to change the world on a shoestring budget – and here is your proof. It cannot be done.
That’s why Labour are cutting spending. And it’s why Rachel Reeves has now admitted tax rises are in fact coming in the Autumn Budget. Cutting spending and increasing taxes? That, my friends, is austerity. Welcome to your new Labour government. Savour it – while it lasts.
Image: Zara Farrar/No 10 Downing Street
Comments