Skip to main content
Advertise with the Morning Star
The alternatives to austerity are obvious
You face austerity because banks are being feather-bedded, not because the state is 'running out of money.' It doesn’t have to be this way, writes DIANE ABBOTT MP

HAROLD WILSON said that a week is a long time in politics. No doubt that is true. But the Autumn Statement delivered by Jeremy Hunt is likely to dominate politics and the economy for the next two years — and possibly well beyond — unless there is a radical alternative proposed.  

This is because the scale and structure of the austerity imposed are quite beyond what we have seen before. Economists tell us that in sheer size, this set of measures was much larger than the austerity imposed by David Cameron and George Osborne.  

At the same time, it is also planned to be much longer, with many of the measures postponed outright until after the next election and only beginning in 2025. Any claim that this is not a deepening of austerity is sheer nonsense.  

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Features / 5 April 2025
5 April 2025
DIANE ABBOTT MP points out the false premises used by Rachel Reeves in the Spring Statement
Protesters show placards as Chancellor Rachel Reeves is abou
Features / 29 March 2025
29 March 2025
While slashing welfare and public services, Labour’s spring statement delivers a bonanza for death-dealing bomb merchants. We now see the true and terrible face of austerity 2.0, writes MICHAEL BURKE
People walking near the Bank of England
Britain / 20 February 2025
20 February 2025
Campaigners slam the Chancellor after Britain’s four biggest banks made a record £45.9bn in profits for 2024
FAIR PAY: Health workers march to Downing Street, London
Features / 13 December 2024
13 December 2024
For its own good the Labour government should take a radical, progressive approach to investing in public services instead of tinkering around the edges, argues DIANE ABBOTT