21 Articles by:
James Meadway is an economist and Director of the Progressive Economy Forum. He is a former advisor to John McDonnell.
Yesterday’s Spending Review is another example of how the government is trying to muddle on through, leaving core services like social care underfunded, the wealth of the rich undertaxed, and millions of us exposed to worsening instability and insecurity.
Unless Liz Truss commits to wage rises, fair taxes and properly funded public services, sacking Kwasi Kwarteng will make no difference – Britain will still be falling off the cliff edge.
Today’s efforts to bring down Boris Johnson highlight divisions among the Tories, but one thing unifies them above it all: running the country in the interests of the super-rich.
Rishi Sunak’s pathetic response to the cost of living crisis shows mainstream economics has no solution to the elite interests reshaping the world economy. It’s up to the Left to set out how to take on the billionaires.
The Bank of England’s interest rate hike is designed to push the economy into a recession, increase unemployment and restrain wages – forcing workers to pay even more for the cost of living crisis.
The energy price cap is due to rise by a further £830 this October, just as the next cold snap hits. This will plunge millions into poverty and worse – but the government shows no intention of stopping it.
Years of austerity and attacks on trade unions have resulted in poverty pay that leaves British workers exposed to soaring prices – to fix the cost of living crisis, we need worker power and higher wages.
Today, Rishi Sunak had a chance to tackle the cost of living crisis. Instead, he has left the average family around £1,000 worse off than last year – the biggest fall in living standards since records began.
Rishi Sunak’s ‘rebate’ won’t stop the energy price hike driving millions into poverty. But there’s an alternative: keep the current price cap, levy a windfall tax, and bring failing energy companies into public ownership.
Yesterday’s Budget increased spending, but did little to tackle a decade of attacks on living standards for workers – the Left’s job now is to call the government’s bluff on promises of a ‘high wage economy.’
Rather than giving money to middle-class savers, the Left could push a programme of regional recovery bonds to help the areas cheated by the London finance bubble – before the Tories take renewal for themselves.
Yesterday’s OBR projections that Britain would rebound spectacularly from the coronavirus crisis are wildly optimistic – and will be used to advance the case for harsh spending cuts if they go unchallenged.
A war effort requires the total mobilisation of an economy. What we’re facing with coronavirus is different – the need to demobilise the economy for as long as public health demands.
Tomorrow, the Institute for Fiscal Studies will launch the latest offensive against Labour’s economic plans – but their attacks are based more on ideology than evidence.
We shouldn’t be scared of attacks in the Tory press – Britain needs a government prepared to invest in its future, and Labour has the boldest plan to transform the economy in a generation.
Boris Johnson can be beaten. We should have every confidence that we can do it. Fundamentally, the ground is slipping away from the Tories. And if we can drag them onto our economic terrain — on climate change, and ownership — we can win.
Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal tears up protections for working people and opens the door for US-style deregulation. Labour should bury it, before it buries us.
The Financial Times might not like it – but Labour’s plan to give workers a share of large corporations is just economic justice.
Deregulated tax havens which suck up public resources while providing few if any new jobs: Boris Johnson’s free ports would be a disaster for Britain’s economy.
After decades of deindustrialisation, the next Labour government can reboot the areas left behind – by laying foundations for a digital industrial revolution.