Blog: What this budget proved is that austerity is far from over

Over the past decade, austerity has caused untold damage to our communities and our public services. Our union has fought austerity every step of the way, using every weapon at our disposal. We’ve now won the public debate on austerity – it’s widely recognised as a disaster. Even the Prime Minister was keen to announce that it’s over. Yet what this budget proved is that austerity is far from over. The Chancellor claimed it’s “coming to an end” – but even that isn’t true. Years of spending cuts have meant real pain for millions, with very little gain. Public services are running on empty, and councils are still axing thousands of jobs. Years of wrecking ball austerity have left local services in a perilous state. It will take time and substantial investment for them to recover. Instead, this was a budget that didn’t deliver the meaningful increases across public services that would mean a real end to austerity. This was a budget that provided no new money for local government after a decade of vicious cuts (except a measly sum for social care that won’t come close to ending the care crisis). This was a budget where the much heralded increases to NHS funding will barely cover projected deficits (if that), and the “extra” funding for mental health is coming from previously announced NHS funds, and only covers acute mental health services, not much needed prevention. This was a budget which claimed to end PFI – something which our union has campaig...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: General secretary's blog News budget Source Type: news