‘Pay more, get less with the Tories...’
THE biggest fall in living standards since records began more than 70 years ago, taxes rising to the highest level since the Second World War and crumbling public services, such as health, schools, social care and road maintenance.
That is the legacy of 12 years of Conservative Government and the crashing of the economy by Liz Truss’s mini-budget, which hiked up mortgages, rents and Government borrowing costs, starving public services even further of vital funding.
This is a crisis made in Downing Street, not as a result of global factors. Yet there was no hint of an apology from the present Chancellor Jeremy Hunt for the pain his Government has caused every family in the UK.
Thankfully, the Chancellor recognised that he had to increase pensions and benefits by 10 per cent rather than the feared rate of 5.4%. But that is only the fourth time in 10 years that benefits have risen by inflation, so millions will still face a hugely challenging winter as increased payments will not arrive for another five months, with food prices rising at a rate of 16 per cent.
Wages adjusted for inflation are lower in 2022 than when the Conservatives came to power in 2010. That is a devastating record unmatched since the mid-19th century. So working families too are struggling to cope with soaring bills.
During last Tursday’s Autumn Statement, designed to reverse the crippling damage caused by Liz Truss, the Chancellor made a great play about protecting three areas of public services – the NHS, social care and schools – with extra money.
But the increase will not keep up with rising costs, meaning schools will be worse off than 12 years ago.
Any extra money for the NHS is welcome. But, with services clearly at breaking point, the NHS faces a shortfall in 2023-24 of £7bn. The extra £3.3bn next year goes less than half way towards plugging that gap and with one in 10 NHS posts vacant with the biggest strike of nurses ever about to happen, much more has to be done
Former PM, Boris Johnson, proudly claimed in 2019 that he had solved the problem of catastrophic bills for long-term social care with a planned £86,000 cap on care costs. He argued that people going into residential care would no longer have to sell their homes to finance it.
That was never true for those living in the Midlands because many would still have to sell their homes as they are worth far less than in the South.
But even that flawed plan has now been shelved for two years despite it being a Conservative Party manifesto pledge. So thousands banking on that promised support will face calamitous care costs. This measure was originally proposed a decade ago but yet again the Government has chosen to prolong a major public policy failure that leaves older and disabled people without the care they need.
Local authorities like Staffordshire County Council with social care responsibility have been given flexibility to raise council tax bills by up to five per cent, hitting struggling families even more next April.
But even if three-quarters of local authorities were to do so, it would reduce the sector’s funding gap – estimated at £9bn – by just £2bn according to Grant Thornton, the consultancy firm. That is nowhere near enough to increase staff pay to tackle the 165,000 vacancies in social care; nor will it make inroads into the 1.6 million people who cannot get care.
Reliance on council tax will not solve the long-term pressures on high demand services. As a result, councils will face cutting back on services such as waste collection, leisure and parks which improve everyone’s quality of life. So, with this Conservative Government, we will be paying much more for far less.