, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, has today called on the
Chancellor of the Exchequer to publish the instructions he has
issued to government departments in preparation for the 2020
Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) announced yesterday.
In a letter to , Dodds raises concerns that the Chancellor appears to
be asking government departments to make yet further cuts,
despite the Prime Minister’s previous commitment that “we are
absolutely not going back to the austerity of ten years ago".
Dodds also asks the Chancellor to clarify his plans on public
sector pay after he spoke of exercising “restraint” for future
pay awards less than a day after the government introduced a pay
rise for some public sector workers.
Citing the extraordinary economic circumstances in which the CSR
will take place, Dodds appeals to the government to learn the
lessons of the 2008 financial crisis to ensure that the current
health emergency is not compounded by political choices around
public spending that further weaken demand.
In that context, she cautions the Chancellor against returning to
an ideological approach to spending that resulted in the slowest
economic recovery in eight generations.
said:
"This has been the toughest of times for Britain’s workers,
wherever they work. Even before Covid-19 hit, real terms wages
were flatlining for many and even falling for others compared
with a decade ago.
"Yesterday there seemed to be light at the end of the tunnel for
some frontline workers. But the language in the Chancellor’s
announcement on the Comprehensive Spending Review suggests he
might be giving with one hand only to take away with the other.
"This is not the time to fall back on policies that delivered the
slowest economic recovery in eight generations. And it’s not the
time for the government to keep the public in the dark about its
fiscal plans.
"It’s time for the Chancellor to come clean and explain how he
plans to delivers growth across the country and rebuild the vital
public services we all rely on.”
Ends
Notes to Editors
Full text of the letter:
Dear Chancellor,
The Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) that you announced today
takes place in extraordinary circumstances. The outlook for our
economy, and our public finances, looks completely different
today to how it looked even six months ago.
The CSR needs to reflect that. This is a moment to think boldly
and strategically about the kind of country we want to be, and
the public services we need, as we emerge from this crisis and
prepare ourselves for the future. In particular, we need to
ensure that a health emergency which has done so much to restrict
economic activity is not compounded by political choices around
public spending that weaken demand further. We must learn the
lessons of the last crisis.
As things stand, however, it is not clear whether the
instructions you have given to departments are more in line with
the Prime Minister’s promise that “we are absolutely not going
back to the austerity of ten years ago” or the intimations in
your statement today that further – and potentially significant –
cuts are on the way.
The messages are similarly mixed when it comes to paying the
public workers who have done so much for us all throughout the
crisis. Last night you announced that some would be receiving a
pay rise and yet this morning you spoke of “restraint” and the
prospect of cuts to come. That is not the right way to treat
those who have contributed so significantly to tackling the
coronavirus, often at great personal risk.
The CSR – and the context in which it is taking place – raises
big public policy questions. They deserve to be discussed openly
and publicly so that voters know whether this is genuinely an
exercise in designing public services fit for the 21st century or
if it just presages a return to an ideological approach to
spending that gave us the slowest economic recovery in eight
generations.
As such, I am calling on you today to publish the directions you
have given to government departments so that everyone can see the
context in which those departments will begin making critical
choices about their spending plans and operations.
I look forward to hearing from you and engaging with this
process, which comes at such a critical time for our country.
Yours sincerely,
Anneliese Dodds
