Blog: Hammond ’ s budget left public services gasping for air

Yesterday, Philip Hammond delivered his second budget as Chancellor. The last one was uninspiring, unraveled quickly and showed just how out of touch with modern Britain the Conservative Party is. A few months after that debacle, his party lost its majority and nearly tumbled out of power. In the days and weeks that followed, Hammond and his beleaguered boss Theresa May implied they understood the message the public had sent them. They told us they had changed. They told us things would be different. For UNISON’s 1.3 million members, there was even the suggestion that proper pay rises for public servants might at long last be on the agenda. Yesterday confirmed what most of us already knew. They haven’t understood. They haven’t changed. They haven’t learned. And it’s care workers, teaching assistants, hospital porters and all of us who rely on them and those like them, who are still being made to pick up the pieces. The Chancellor argued that he wanted to make Britain ‘fit for the future’ – a questionable promise after seven years of Conservative misrule – yet his budget left public services gasping for air. Instead, public services received yet another let down. The decision to increase business rates by CPI instead of RPI undermines the local government tax base and has long-term implications for funding, and there was precious little to lift the pressure on schools and colleges. Yes, some extra money for the NHS in England, but nowhere near what was reques...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - Category: Food Science Authors: Tags: General secretary's blog News budget pay up now Source Type: news