Responding to the Chancellor’s
Budget today (Wednesday), TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:
“This budget is the wrong answer
to the wrong question. We face a jobs, growth and living standards crisis, yet
today’s proposals are small beer that do little more than tinker at the edges.
“The only long-term way to mend
the public finances is to get a healthy growing economy where businesses and
workers earn enough to spend confidently, and those who can afford it pay
proper rates of tax.
“To boost growth the Chancellor
should use current low interest rates to borrow for investment in
infrastructure and a big programme of house-building. He should stop holding
back the living standards of those most likely to spend, and stop cuts that
suck growth out of the economy.
“And while moving pensions and
benefits into annual managed expenditure is technical jargon, it raises the
possibility of further significant cuts in payments if spending exceeds the limit
set by the Chancellor in his spending review.
“No politician likes to be
accused of a u-turn, but when your policies are making the problem worse then
it is time to find reverse gear.”
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