The shame of Labour’s austerity doctrine
Rachel Reeves’ spending review is an imitation of a failed economic programme.
ByAusterity
Austerity is a set of political-economic policies that cut government spending. These polices aim to reducing government budget deficits and the role of the welfare state. In the UK, austerity was most recently implemented from 2010-19 under, respectively, the coalition and Conservative governments, and again in 2021 to the present. Here you can find all of our latest news, analysis and comment about austerity.
The cost of austerity
A generation of children have been held back by political opportunism.
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Rachel Reeves bans the A-word
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
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How the OBR became the Department for Austerity
Governments should not use economic forecasts as a cover for political choices.
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The special needs trap
What one parent’s experience reveals about a system on the brink of collapse.
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Can Rachel Reeves recover?
A Chancellor playing a long game must hope she does not have to wait too long.
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Labour has learned that austerity is hard to avoid
As long as economic growth remains anaemic, pressure on spending will endure.
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Emmanuel Macron’s Fifth Republic is crumbling
Following the no-confidence vote in Michel Barnier’s government, can the president survive this political crisis?
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The only things still in good repair in my life are my friendships
But everything else is falling to bits.
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Inside Britain’s prisons crisis
Austerity has reduced a working system to one of ungovernable horrors.
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The left must resist the seductions of austerity
Britain and Germany are walking into the same fiscal doom loop.
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Will Rachel Reeves end austerity?
The Chancellor’s definition of halting cuts will be challenged.
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Will there ever be justice for Grenfell?
The architects of an aggressive deregulation scheme appear to have done little soul searching.
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The Grenfell report is damning for David Cameron
The former PM’s deregulatory agenda contributed to avoidable deaths.
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Rachel Reeves wants the Tories to own their legacy
The new Chancellor is following the example of George Osborne by citing “the mess” left by the last government.
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Dan Poulter: “I voted for policies that I would not now vote for”
The doctor and Tory defector Dan Poulter on the state of the NHS and where his former party went wrong.
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There is such a thing as society
To fix this country after 14 years of Tory ruin, we’re going to need to start saying as much.
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The council debt crisis is of the government’s own making
The abolition of the Audit Commission, and the squeeze on local authority budgets, has doubled the sector's liabilities.
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Teresa Thornhill: “The system keeps some children safe, but fails others”
The former child protection lawyer on how overstretched social services endanger families.
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Even Tories are disowning austerity
The legacy of 14 years in power is hanging heavily on the party.
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