THE fact that, in a year in which will mark the 13th anniversary of the Conservative Party returning to office, we are discussing another crisis — and another round of austerity being introduced in the name of responding to it — is truly illustrative of both this government’s skewed priorities and its bankruptcy of ideas. 

From the Cameron Cabinet with the Lib Dems (which made austerity its flagship policy) throughout the tenures of Theresa May and Boris Johnson (who continued it while talking about Brexit a lot), as well as the short-lived Truss era (when a particularly haphazard version of it was attempted) and Rishi Sunak today, making the majority pay in order to protect the wealth of the class which the Tories represent has been a thread of continuity.

The context of millions having already experienced attacks on their living standards over more than a decade (along with the scandalous rises in bills and prices more recently) is set to make the impact of this latest package of austerity measures all the more devastating.