Tory austerity will never end

AUSTERITY is far from over and the Tories are running scared.

Yesterday, Philip Hammond gave a broken promise Budget, failing to end austerity, which was always a political choice, not an economic necessity.

For more than eight years, the Tories have given huge tax giveaways to the few while driving our public services into crisis. By choosing to cut rather than invest, the Tories have failed to fix the fundamental weaknesses of the British economy – low growth, low investment, low pay.

Now their shambolic approach to Brexit is putting our economy at risk.

People have had enough but the Tories have announced the end of austerity three times now and never delivered. Much more is needed to start undoing the damage caused by cuts since 2010. Women have and will bear the brunt of these cuts. The £20billion promised for the NHS is “simply not enough” according to the independent charity, the Health Foundation, and cannot come at the expense of other public services – cuts to social care, social security and housing just create more demand in the NHS.

Local councils faces a funding gap of £7.8billion by 2025, and local services are at breaking point.

School funding has been cut by eight per cent and many schools are sending begging letters to parents to make ends meet.

The Tories’ callous and chaotic roll-out of Universal Credit is pushing families into poverty.

Universal Credit will leave the poorest families, including half of single parents, £200 a month worse off, yet 75 per cent of post-2015 cuts to social security are yet to come.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives’ botched Brexit negotiations are putting jobs and the economy at risk.

The Conservatives have spent more time arguing with themselves than negotiating with the European Union.

Labour will negotiate a Brexit deal that respects the referendum result while protecting jobs, rights at work and the environment.

Universal Credit isn’t working and cannot continue in its current form. Labour will stop the roll-out and deliver a genuinely comprehensive system in which nobody will be worse off.

Labour will invest across the whole country creating 400,000 well-paid green jobs.

Labour will properly fund our public services by ensuring the rich are taxed fairly, clamping down on tax avoidance and increasing income taxes on the top five per cent and big business.

Labour will rebuild our economy for the many and not the few.