The Autumn Statement – Tory failure confirmed

The Chancellor’s economic plans offer little hope for the future and yet more austerity, writes Ken Livingstone.

THE Tory Chancellor Philip Hammond’s Autumn Statement confirmed that in the years ahead for Britain the picture is pretty gloomy — tax receipts will fall, inflation will rise, wages will stagnate and growth will decline.

Contrary to some claims in the media in the run-up to this week, the Autumn Statement also confirmed the failures — and the continuation of — the Tories’ ideologically driven austerity economic policies over the last six years, where those who did nothing to cause the global economic crash have paid the price of the pain that followed.
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Austerity is a political choice not an economic necessity

The Tory government is sticking to plans for more austerity, no matter what the economic or human consequences, writes Ken Livingstone.

Since my last Morning Star column, a leading think tank has forecast a £25 billion hole in the public finances by the end of the current parliament.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) report says that lower growth forecasts and higher inflation will leave government tax receipts £31bn worse off in 2019-2020 — turning a forecast surplus of £14.9bn into a deficit of £10.4bn.
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