The Labour manifesto for the general election was launched on 13 June. And Keir Starmer proclaimed “we are not going to return to austerity. I’ve lived through austerity. I’m never going to allow a Labour government to do that to our public services. Never”.
But Starmer doesn’t mention the longstanding austerity that has already happened. Nor does he mention that the Labour manifesto does little to reverse it.
Labour manifesto: continuing Tory austerity
Take local councils. Between 2010 and 2023, austerity budgets for councils resulted in a 43% real terms cut on spending per person on cultural services, a 40% cut on roads and transport and a 35% cut to housing.
Or there’s education. Since the Tories came to power in 2010, propped up by the Lib Dems, 70% of state schools have faced real term cuts. It would take £12.2bn of investment to reverse the cuts.
Speaking about Labour’s manifesto, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said:
failing to properly support education is a false economy and there is no indication in this manifesto that current cuts to education will be reversed.
Any new Government will need to reverse cuts to education and match the funding levels of other OECD countries in order to boost skills, close equity gaps and deliver the necessary workforce.
The situation in our schools and colleges has now reached tipping point – without serious investment, schools will be closing due to a lack of funds. No incoming Government can ignore the problem. Our schools need an ambitious plan that heads off the catastrophe heading their way.
Then there’s welfare. From 2010 to 2021, austerity policies took £14bn out of the welfare system. According to the New Economics Foundation, that plunged 1.5 million more people into poverty. Additionally, 40% of universal credit claimants are in work. Yet the Labour manifesto does nothing to address any of this. In fact the party’s commitment to the two-child benefit cap makes matters worse.
Austerity is a political choice
Overall, government cuts from 2010 to 2019 reduced spending by over half a trillion. And austerity doesn’t stop at implemented cuts. Those cuts then have a knock on impact on society.
The Progressive Economy Forum found that the measures mean a low wage economy and weaker growth. The authors said the government’s policies amount to “private affluence… amid public squalor”.
This reflection also sums up Labour’s manifesto. Sky‘s Kay Burley epitomised the party’s approach in February when she said: “Labour’s happy to cap child benefit, but not bankers’ bonuses”.
Starmer’s refusal to reverse previous austerity comes before what Labour insiders anonymously say will be “really difficult” decisions the party will make if it wins. That suggests Starmer’s Labour isn’t even telling the public about further cuts it will make in government.
This is all a political choice. Mainstream discourse stated that UK government finances were in a terrible place after WWII. Yet Clement Attlee’s Labour government literally created the NHS and rolled out the welfare state, along with universal secondary schools.
Starmer is attempting to shut down debate on what’s possible. We need to push for a better vision of the future.
Featured image via Labour Party – YouTube
