Thursday, October 28, 2021

UK
'Rishi Sunak’s Budget an admission of Tory failures after decade of devastating austerity'


The Tories deserve no thanks for offering a botched repair job after damaging Britain with more than a decade of devastating austerity - and yet still Chancellor Rishi Sunak failed to support families with the cost of living


Rishi Sunak’s Budget was an admission of the Conservative Party’s failures.

The Chancellor sought to undo some of the damage caused by more than a decade of devastating austerity by increasing spending on schools, health and local government.

After years swinging the wrecking ball at our public services, the government deserves no thanks for offering a botched repair job.

Boasting that per pupil funding will return to 2010 levels by 2024 is not a cause for celebration but a damning admission that they failed to properly fund our education system.

Equally, Mr Sunak deserves no praise for creating a handful of family hubs after his party has closed more than 1,000 Sure Start centres.




Rishi Sunak's champagne Budget for rich means real pain for poor as bills rocket

The Tories have a warped sense of responsibility when they cut taxes for bankers and champagne drinkers but do nothing to help those reliant on foodbanks.

While some the measures are welcome, such as the tax cut for those in work on Universal Credit, the Chancellor failed to do enough to support families with the cost of living.

Families are facing rising inflation, higher energy and food bills and steeper taxes. How was this Budget supposed to help them?
Deadly delays

Lives are being put at risk because ambulance crews are not able to respond.

Some patients have had to wait more than five hours for paramedics to arrive. NHS chiefs have now ordered hospital bosses to end these delays.


Hospitals told to 'eliminate' ambulance queues after two deaths blamed on delays

Their message should be directed at government ministers, not hard-working frontline staff who are doing an exceptional job in the most testing of circumstances.

The delays are a result of the unprecedented pressure on the health service caused by Covid and years of underfunding.

Brexit’s impact on economy worse than pandemic – OBR


BENJAMIN COOPER, PA28 October 2021, 


The impact of Brexit on the UK economy will be worse than that caused by the pandemic, according to the chairman of the UK fiscal watchdog.

Richard Hughes said the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) had assumed leaving the EU would “reduce our long run GDP by around 4%”, adding in comments to the BBC: “We think that the effect of the pandemic will reduce that (GDP) output by a further 2%.”

Gross domestic product – or GDP – is a measure of the size of the economy.

“In the long term it is the case that Brexit has a bigger impact than the pandemic”, Mr Hughes told the broadcaster hours after the OBR responded to Rishi Sunak’s latest Budget by saying it expected inflation to reach 4.4% while warning it could hit “the highest rate seen in the UK for three decades”.

It came as Downing Street vowed to retaliate against France if Paris goes ahead with a “disappointing and disproportionate” threat to impose sanctions in an escalation of a row over fishing boats.

The French Government dramatically warned it will block British vessels from some ports next week if the post-Brexit dispute over fishing licences is not resolved.

Paris even went as far as suggesting it could restrict energy supplies to the Channel Islands if no deal is reached with the UK as relations since the EU departure further soured.

No 10 said the threats do not seem to be compatible with “international law” and vowed an “appropriate and calibrated response” if Paris does not back down.

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