Category: conservative party

PM’s policy wheezes are last desperate roll of the dice from a government on borrowed time

Commenting on Rishi Sunak’s speech today to the Conservative Party conference, UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said:

“The country is broken after 13 years of poor government. The prime minister’s focus should be on fixing the mess created by his ministers and those of the four earlier woeful Conservative administrations.

“Under his party the UK has become an international embarrassment. People have been pummelled by a cost of living crisis no one in government appears to have a handle on and public services are in a state of permanent crisis.

“These policy wheezes are a last desperate roll of the dice from a government that knows it’s living on borrowed time.

“There is but one solution. That’s for Rishi Sunak to call an election now and let the people elect a government able to put right the many wrongs of the past decade.”

Notes to editors:
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.

Media contacts:
Liz Chinchen M: 07778 158175 E: press@unison.co.uk
Anthony Barnes M: 07834 864794 E: press@unison.co.uk

The article PM’s policy wheezes are last desperate roll of the dice from a government on borrowed time first appeared on the UNISON National site.

PM’s policy wheezes are last desperate roll of the dice from a government on borrowed time

Commenting on Rishi Sunak’s speech today to the Conservative Party conference, UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said:

“The country is broken after 13 years of poor government. The prime minister’s focus should be on fixing the mess created by his ministers and those of the four earlier woeful Conservative administrations.

“Under his party the UK has become an international embarrassment. People have been pummelled by a cost of living crisis no one in government appears to have a handle on and public services are in a state of permanent crisis.

“These policy wheezes are a last desperate roll of the dice from a government that knows it’s living on borrowed time.

“There is but one solution. That’s for Rishi Sunak to call an election now and let the people elect a government able to put right the many wrongs of the past decade.”

Notes to editors:
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.

Media contacts:
Liz Chinchen M: 07778 158175 E: press@unison.co.uk
Anthony Barnes M: 07834 864794 E: press@unison.co.uk

The article PM’s policy wheezes are last desperate roll of the dice from a government on borrowed time first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Tories ‘cannot be trusted’, after screeching economic U-turn

“A government that dumps virtually its entire economic slate in the space of a month simply cannot be trusted.”

That was the verdict of UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea today, after the fourth Conservative chancellor this year performed a series of screeching U-turn on his predecessor’s catastrophic ‘mini-budget from just a few weeks ago.

After Kwasi Kwarteng’s tax-cutting ‘fiscal event’ on 23 September triggered panic in the markets, with the pound falling against the dollar and leading, eventually, to his sacking as chancellor by Prime Minister Liz Truss.

In an unprecedented catalogue of U-turns, new chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirmed this morning that he is reversing many of the measures announced – including the planned cut to income tax.

Income tax will stay at 20% indefinitely, instead of being reduced to 19%.

The cap on energy prices is now only guaranteed to April 2023. The mini-budget had announced support for two years, but a Treasury-led review is due to take place in the spring to prioritise those most in need.

Many UNISON members are now facing a financial cliff edge in April, when the price cap is predicted to increase up to £5,000 a year for an average household, with protections only retained for the most vulnerable.

Other proposed tax cuts that have now been abandoned include:

  • the cut in dividend tax;
  • VAT-free shopping for overseas tourists;
  • the freeze on alcohol duty; and
  • the easing of the IR35 rules for the self-employed and contractors.

The Treasury expects the reversal of these measures will raise more than £32bn by 2026-27.

Cuts to stamp duty and the reversal of the 1.25 percentage point increase in national insurance contributions will remain, as they were already too progressed in their implementation. The removal of the cap on bankers’ bonuses also remains.

The government has indicated that further “difficult decisions” on tax and spending are due, with an expectation that the government plans to cut £38bn of spending on public services. All ministers are due to meet with the new chancellor this week to decide spending plans.

Ms McAnea said: “Liz Truss promised again and again to shield people from rocketing energy bills, but even that help now lies in tatters. Struggling families will be aghast.

“Threatened spending cuts mean essential services, key workers and the public will pay a heavy price for the government’s reckless – and wholly unnecessary – gamble.’

And the general secretary continued: “The current crisis is entirely of the government’s making. The UK’s reputation on the international stage has been trashed and families’ budgets squeezed like never before.

“This sorry state of affairs must come to an end. The lame duck prime minister has to step aside, and an election called right away to put the country out of its misery. That’s the only way to get the economy back on track.”

The article Tories ‘cannot be trusted’, after screeching economic U-turn first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Blog: The Tory leadership race

Today, there are still five candidates left standing in the race to be the next Conservative leader and prime minister. The third round of voting is today and follows a weekend of campaigning and embarrassing TV debates.

Each one of the candidates is a part of the ruling Tory party that’s been in power for the past 12 years. Most have served in Boris Johnson’s government as either a cabinet or junior minister, and all propped up and voted through a Tory agenda that has led us to where we are today – a deepening cost of living crisis, and an integrity vacuum at the top of British politics.

Yet the debates over the weekend would make anyone think they’re all from different parties, tearing chunks out of each other personally, and on their weak manifestos. Liz Truss claimed former Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s plans would drive the country into a recession, Penny Mordaunt had no economic plan at all, and Kemi Badenoch made some alarming comments against green policies, despite historic red warnings being issued in the UK.

Tom Tugendhat lacked any enthusiasm for the top job and, as the candidates rounded off the debate with their closing speeches, Liz Truss had to look at her notes to remind herself that she thinks the big issue at the next election will be the economy.

Each tried desperately to distance themselves from Boris Johnson, and all admitted, in their own way, that the country needs change and can do better. Well, yes, they’re right to some extent, the country does need a change. But that change shouldn’t include anyone from the party that has been in power for the last 12 years.

And there was something starker, more troubling – not only for our public services, but for the future of our society. As they try to out right-wing each other, paying homage to Margaret Thatcher and pledging a smaller state, it’s clear our NHS, schools, local councils and policing are not safe in any of their hands.

This is a crucial time for our public services and public service workers, but they’re all determined to stick to public sector pay restraint, warning that pay rises will turbocharge inflation. We know this isn’t true, because there’s been low inflation over the last decade, at the same time as real terms pay cuts in the public sector.

Tory party members alone will get to decide who our next prime minister will be. They number just over one tenth of the total UNISON membership, no more than that, and are not representative of the general population. But these live debates have given all of us an unusual close-up of the Tories’ division, chaos and incompetence, and a front row view of their dying days in Westminster.

The final debate has been cancelled, because the two most senior politicians, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, have pulled out. I guess they finally realised that when, the gloves are off, and the public gets a glimpse of their real characters, they damage their chances of winning the next general election.

The article Blog: The Tory leadership race first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Blog: Concentrating on the issues that matter

It’s been another troubled week for the prime minister. He met his no-confidence vote with the usual bluster and spin. The thumping from his own party is another huge dent in his authority. To ‘move on’, we’ve been given a set of vacuous and unworkable housing ‘plans’ that do nothing to solve the urgent cost of living crisis.

Our national delegate conference (NDC) opens next week in Brighton and we’ll be firmly focused on the crisis at hand. Inflation is set to reach 10%, filling up the petrol tank now costs £100, and the number of workers needing food banks is exploding.

Hunger doesn’t just affect people today – it seriously hampers life chances. Selling off housing association stock is not the answer to these problems. Ahead of our conference we’ve secured some great national press coverage, highlighting how much our members are suffering from the cost of living and the cost of working.

The PM also lauded the UK’s unemployment levels – the lowest since 1974 – but if pay isn’t even putting food on workers’ tables, then he’s got a perverse understanding of what employment is. And when pay doesn’t even meet the basic needs of housing and heating, then our society is clearly broken.

The public sector has had pay restraint for years, yet the UK is suffering the worst inflation of any G7 countries. Boris Johnson’s claims that pay rises would spark a wage-price spiral just doesn’t ring true for public sector workers. Their pay has dwindled after a decade of real terms pay cuts.

Our conference next week can’t come soon enough – the first time we can meet in person for our NDC since the pandemic began. It’s your chance to hold your union to account, and make sure we have a laser-like focus on what matters to members – pay, jobs, terms and conditions, and the decent and inclusive society we can create when we all pull together for our common cause.

The article Blog: Concentrating on the issues that matter first appeared on the UNISON National site.