Austerity 2

Britain braces for misery Budget

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/britain-braces-misery-budget

 Chancellor of Exchequer Rachel Reeves during a visit to the Sipsmith Distillery in Chiswick West London, October 9, 2025

BRITAIN must brace for a misery Budget of tax rises and spending cuts, beleaguered Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed today as experts also warned of rising unemployment.

Ms Reeves alleged that the economic problems she is struggling with could be attributed to Brexit, as the government increasingly protests about Britain’s exclusion from the European Union, a pose with potentially far-reaching political implications.

She brought an end to weeks of speculation by confirming that tax rises will feature in her Budget, scheduled for the end of November.

However, she did not indicate where the burden would fall. Labour committed at the general election to not raise income tax, VAT or employees’ National Insurance, pledges now regarded as a straitjacket.

While there are other measures the Chancellor could announce, they would not be likely to raise as much cash. She has firmly set her face against a wealth tax so far.

Ms Reeves also indicated that spending cuts will be on the Budget agenda. Her drive to cut the welfare Bill through reducing benefits for disabled people was thwarted in the summer by a backbench Labour rebellion.

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Continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/britain-braces-misery-budget

Continue ReadingBritain braces for misery Budget

It hurt when I crashed my bike into a pothole – and it taught me the true price of austerity George Monbiot

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Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/04/crashed-bike-pothole-cost-cycling

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I was lucky. Last week, I was cycling downhill when I hit a pothole. The front wheel folded into an infinity symbol. I went over the handlebars and, with no time to put my hands out, landed on my face. My helmet and glasses took most of the impact. I emerged, remarkably, with just a few cuts and bruises.

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Austerity – which leaves our potholes, alongside many other gaps in public provision, unfilled – does not save money. On the contrary, it costs us a fortune. What the rich might save in taxes, the rest must pay over and over again.

False economies abound. For example, the government may at last be persuaded to remove the Tories’ vicious, Malthusian two-child benefit cap. But what many people have failed to grasp is that behind it stands another brick wall: the household benefits cap. If families now receive money for a third child, it could push them past the household limit, and they’ll be scarcely better off than before. This household cap has extreme and perverse consequences. It ensures that rents, even in the social sector, are almost everywhere unaffordable to the families affected, most of which are headed by lone parents. The result is that they are thrown into temporary accommodation, which local authorities must provide at far greater expense: roughly £2.3bn a year. Being forced into temporary accommodation also curtails adults’ employment opportunities and children’s performance at school, and generates great suffering, which can translate into physical and mental health problems, which of course means further economic impacts.

In 2019, a parliamentary committee called on the government to “conduct a full cost benefit analysis of the benefit cap”. The government rejected the call, but said it would explore the possibility in future. I checked with the Department for Work and Pensions – it still hasn’t happened.

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Keir Starmer confirms that he's proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.

Continue ReadingIt hurt when I crashed my bike into a pothole – and it taught me the true price of austerity George Monbiot

Household energy debt soars to £4.43 billion

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Image of cash and pre-payment meter key
Image of cash and pre-payment meter key

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/household-energy-debt-soars-ps443-billion

HOUSEHOLD energy debt has soared to £4.43 billion, leaving hundreds of thousands trapped in arrears, new figures revealed today.

Figures from Ofgem show that energy debt has more than tripled since the end of 2020, when the figure stood at £1.45bn.

The regulator reported that there are currently 1,133,683 electricity customers and 926,545 gas customers in debt without any repayment arrangement in place. 

The debt is leaving households facing up to an extra £145 a year on their bills to cover the collective shortfall.

End Fuel Poverty Coalition co-ordinator Simon Francis said: “Energy debt is now driving people into dangerous financial positions as we approach the fifth winter of the energy bills crisis.

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A new analysis by think tank Common Wealth shows that 24 per cent of the average energy bill went towards pre-tax profits by the energy industry.

Robert Palmer, deputy director of Uplift, said: “Yet again while shareholders are celebrating rising prices and huge profits, people are facing stark choices of how to ration their energy.

“Only by supporting struggling households now, improving energy efficiency and getting us off expensive gas through homegrown renewable energy will ministers be able to get a grip on the situation.”

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/household-energy-debt-soars-ps443-billion

Keir Starmer confirms that he's proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
Image of Keir Starmer and a poor child.
Zionist Keir ‘Kid Starver’ Starmer. Image thanks to The Skwawkbox.

Continue ReadingHousehold energy debt soars to £4.43 billion

Keir Starmer told scrapping two-child cap on benefits should be ‘bare minimum’ in fight against poverty

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Keir Starmer explains that he feels no shame or guilt benefitting personally from gifts from the rich and powerful while insisting on policies of severe austerity causing suffering and death.
Keir Starmer explains that he feels no shame or guilt benefitting personally from gifts from the rich and powerful while insisting on policies of severe austerity causing suffering and death.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-told-scrapping-two-35965638

[Daily Record] EXCLUSIVE: SNP MP Kirsty Blackman said getting rid of the hated Tory welfare policy should be the “bare minimum – not the height of ambitions”.

The UK Labour Government has been challenged to go “much further” than scrapping the two-child cap on benefits if it wants to reduce number of kids living in poverty.

SNP MP Kirsty Blackman has today written to Keir Starmer to insist getting rid of the hated Tory welfare policy should be the “bare minimum – not the height of ambitions”.

It comes amid rising speculation the Prime Minister may use next week’s UK Labour conference in Liverpool to confirm the two-child cap will finally be ended.

Anti-poverty campaigners and charities have long warned the policy punishes larger families and pushes more youngsters into a life of poverty as a result.

The SNP Government has already commited to mitigating the impact of the welfare cap in Scotland from next March.

In her letter, Blackman said: “Independent analysis shows that if the UK government matched SNP action across the UK, it could lift 2.3million families out of poverty overnight, including a further 96,000 in Scotland.

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Article continues at https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-told-scrapping-two-35965638

Keir Starmer confirms that he's proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
Keir Starmer commits to play the caretaker role for Capitalism through the "hard times".
Keir Starmer commits to play the caretaker role for Capitalism through the “hard times”.
Continue ReadingKeir Starmer told scrapping two-child cap on benefits should be ‘bare minimum’ in fight against poverty