I have very little faith that the chancellor’s autumn statement will bring any relief for workers on Wednesday.
Everything we said in 2010 was proved right. It is obvious the government’s plan on the economy did not work: it did not reward workers, it penalised them; it did not protect the most vulnerable, it put them more at risk – and it certainly was not fair.
Osborne’s approach to public spending has been a disaster. The plan did nothing to reduce the deficit and left our public services in dire straits.
Hundreds of thousands of public-service workers lost their jobs and the promise to cut the deficit not the NHS was just empty words.
Our members know this only too well. It is the reality they live in.
But in a desperate attempt to avoid negative headlines months before the general election, the government will try to use the same tricks again.
The budget deficit will be almost £100bn this year and it is rising – so much for blaming everything on Labour. But his plan simply didn’t work and the spectre of his first budget looms over us again.
The government has not dealt with the country’s debts and it has have not given us confidence in the future of our economy.
Instead, we’ve seen four years of austerity measures that made most people poorer while prices for everyday essentials rose.
By cutting public spending, the government hascreated the biggest squeeze since Victorian times.
People simply can’t afford to live on their wages and many have had to borrow more and get second jobs to make ends meet – people working round the clock to ensure they can keep their homes, pay their bills and feed their families.
Osborne also promised that success will be shared.
But if workers are not feeling the benefits of the so-called recovery then who is? Bankers, and those on already huge salaries? Making the rich richer by all means necessary. That’s what this government stands for.
Four year on, we have not been all in this together and it is the poorest and the squeezed middle who have paid the price of this government’s austerity plan.
Budgets and jobs cuts have gone from bad to worse. And sadly we haven’t seen the end of this government’s austerity measures.
The recovery the Government has been boasting about is still not being felt by workers.
A recovery that only benefits the few privileged in this country is no good for the economy or for workers.
The chancellor has one last chance to bring some relief for workers and admit he got it wrong.
