Labour seems spellbound by the Tories’ economically illiterate cult of austerity – but there is another way to help Britain thrive, says Kate Pickett, co-author of The Spirit Level
, to name a few – Britain looks set for another four years of austerity government. It’s like we are entering the 14th series of a programme that should have been cut right after the pilot.
We don’t have to go back too far in our history to see how differently things can play out. Immediately after the second world war, Britain’s economy was on its knees. Debt had risen to. Industries were devastated. Hundreds of thousands of British soldiers had been killed or wounded. International trade was in crisis.
The economic vision that won out has largely been attributed to the genius of John Maynard Keynes, who argued that straitened economic times call not for fiscal conservatism but a generous and ambitious package of public spending. Britain’s postwar economy needed investment to get it back on its feet. That had to be coupled – as William Beveridge argued and championed – with a social safety net that ensured everyone could lead a decent life.
Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, in north Belfast, November 2018.Fast forward three-quarters of a century and that spirit has, in many political circles, been forgotten. The UN’s special rapporteur to Britain, Philip Alston,in 2018: “British compassion for those who are suffering has been replaced by a punitive, mean-spirited, and often callous approach.
And yet, the initial signs from Labour are that the party itself is now trapped, spellbound by an economic argument that is as empty in ethics as it is destructive in impact. Starmer has said the party will
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