Austerity on trial
At the Covid-19 inquiry, David Cameron and George Osborne were unrepentant over their spending cuts.
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.
Long austerity: councillors reveal how much they still cut services
Exclusive polling for the New Statesman reveals which local budgets are being slashed.
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Austerity regret – the new Tory gambit
Current and former Conservative cabinet ministers have started admitting that their past spending cuts went too far.
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Is this the end of the Met Police?
An investigation has found it to be “institutionally racist, sexist and homophobic”, and raises the possibility of abolition.
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How Happy Valley reveals the reality of austerity
Since 2014, Sally Wainwright’s complex police drama has laid bare the hope and terror of living in the north of…
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The truth behind the worst NHS crisis
Most of the carnage unfolding is the result of political decisions, not Covid-19.
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Labour must be radical on public service reform
Rethinking public services can rebuild trust in the state – and rebalance our economy.
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“What Rishi Sunak is doing is lunacy”: the City’s favourite strategist on the economy’s hidden dangers
Albert Edwards warns that the government’s austerity has set the economy on a path to collapse.
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Labour needs a radical alternative to Jeremy Hunt’s wages of misery
As ever more workers take strike action to defend their living standards, Labour must be on their side.
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The Autumn Statement was an elegy from a Conservative Party in mourning
While Labour is setting the terms of the next election, the Tories are unable to move on from the legacy…
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What will Jeremy Hunt unveil in his Autumn Statement today?
The Chancellor is expected to announce £24bn of tax rises – and some senior Tory MPs are already expressing dissent.
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Rishi Sunak can’t blame financial markets for his spending cuts
Investors panicked by the reckless mini-Budget won’t be happy when the Autumn Statement’s austerity weakens growth either.
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Labour must resist the siren calls of austerity
The party should enter the debate over the Autumn Statement prepared to fight and win an ideological battle.
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Fascism’s liberal admirers
Austerity is a fiction designed to uphold capitalism – and it has a dark history.
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Leader: The Labour dilemma
If Keir Starmer is to lead a transformative government of the kind the UK needs, he must be more imaginative.
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There is an alternative to austerity
Rather than cutting public spending again, the government should finally tax the UK’s vast reserves of housing wealth.
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Escaping the austerity trap
Inflation is at a 40-year high and the UK economy has stalled – now is Labour’s moment to lead a…
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Ha-Joon Chang: “Talk of a ‘fiscal black hole’ is an insult to the concept”
The South Korean economist on the case against austerity and his new book Edible Economics.
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Can anyone save the NHS?
Short-term sticking plasters rather than long-term healing may be too tempting for Rishi Sunak’s unpopular government.
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The “fiscal black hole” is a dangerous myth to justify austerity
Imposing unnecessary spending cuts would trap the UK in an economic doom loop.
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