The Tory-go-round: 21 broken promises of higher wages, higher skills or higher growth revealed
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The Labour Party has today revealed that every single Tory Budget
and fiscal statement for the last decade has promised action
to deliver higher wages, higher skills, or higher growth. Despite
the promises by successive Tory Chancellors, Britain is worse off –
with higher taxes, lower wages and stagnant economic growth.
Rishi's recession shows that his promise to grow the economy is in
tatters and our economy is now smaller than when the prime...Request free trial
The Labour Party has today revealed that every single Tory Budget and fiscal statement for the last decade has promised action to deliver higher wages, higher skills, or higher growth. Despite the promises by successive Tory Chancellors, Britain is worse off – with higher taxes, lower wages and stagnant economic growth. Rishi's recession shows that his promise to grow the economy is in tatters and our economy is now smaller than when the prime ministerentered 10 Downing Street in 2022. Labour is ready to fight a general election on the economy by offering long-term change to deliver more jobs, more investment and to cut people’s bills.
Ends. Every single Tory Budget and fiscal statement in the last decade has promised higher wages, higher skills or higher growth
“Today’s Autumn Statement for growth.” “That is the biggest ever boost for business investment in modern times, a decisive step towards closing the productivity gap with other major economies and the most effective way we can raise wages and living standards for every family in the country.” ... “First, skills. No economy can prosper without investing in the potential of its people.” Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/autumn-statement-2023-speech
“Brexit was a decision by the British people to change our economic model. In that historic vote, our country decided to move from a model based on unlimited low skill migration to one based on high wages and high skills. Today we show how we will deliver that with a major set of reforms.” Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/spring-budget-2023-speech
“Our plan is designed to build a high wage, high skill economy that leads to long-term prosperity. “ Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-autumn-statement-2022-speech
“And our plan is to expand the supply side of the economy through tax incentives and reform. That is how we will deliver higher wages, greater opportunities, and crucially, fund public services, now and into the future.” Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-growth-plan-2022-speech
“Second, we will create the conditions for higher growth.” Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/spring-statement-2022-speech
“The Prime Minister’s economy of higher wages, higher skills, and rising productivity.” “Higher skills lead to higher regional productivity. And higher productivity leads to higher wages.” Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/autumn-budget-and-spending-review-2021-speech
“And I want to make the United Kingdom the best place in the world for high growth, innovative companies.” Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/budget-speech-2021
“And we’re also committed to boosting skills.” Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/spending-review-2020-speech
“So the fourth part of our Plan for Prosperity, is: to create the high skill, high wage, low carbon jobs of the future” …. “The new clusters will create up to 6,000 high skill, high wage, low carbon jobs in areas like Teesside, Humberside, Merseyside or St Fergus in Scotland.” Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/budget-speech-2020
“Boosting wages and raising living standards – which have stagnated for too long.” “But we will invest, too, in the long-term growth of this country.” Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/spending-round-2019-sajid-javids-speech
“More jobs than ever before; higher wages and lower taxes meaning increased take-home pay… …and for the first time in a generation our debt going down;” ….. “The only sustainable path to higher wages and rising living standards is to boost productivity.” Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/spring-statement-2019-philip-hammonds-speech
“We will always back enterprise and the market economy that underpins it… …because we know it is the only way to deliver the high-wage, high-skill economy of the future.” Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/budget-2018-philip-hammonds-speech
“To embrace the new technologies of the future. And to deliver the skills we will need to benefit from them. To tackle our long-standing productivity challenges.” “As our economy changes, we must ensure people have the skills they need to seize the opportunities ahead.” Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/spring-statement-2018-philip-hammonds-speech
“Because we will harness this potential and turn it into the high paid, high productivity jobs of tomorrow.” Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/autumn-budget-2017-philip-hammonds-speech
“help young people from ordinary working families across the country get the skills they need to do the high-paid, high-skilled jobs of the future, vital for a competitive workforce.” Source: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a74f8f2ed915d3c7d529637/spring_budget_2017_web.pdf
“Raising productivity is essential for the high-wage, high-skill economy that will deliver higher living standards for working people.” Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/autumn-statement-2016-philip-hammonds-speech
“Higher wage society.” ... “This section sets out further measures to support long-term investment, alongside action to improve education and skills and to back businesses through the tax system...”
“I’ve been asked to help in the transition as Britain moves to the higher wage, lower welfare, lower tax society the country wants to see.”
“A Budget that sets out a plan for Britain for the next 5 years to keep moving us from a low wage, high tax, high welfare economy;to the higher wage, lower tax, lower welfare country we intend to create.” Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/chancellor-george-osbornes-summer-budget-2015-speech
“Developing a more highly-skilled UK labour market by strengthening support for postgraduate research and apprenticeships, and setting out plans for further investment in the UK’s world-leading science and innovation base.”
“So today we boost our skills, our exports, our science and our infrastructure. While employment is at a record high, we must never give up on the task of finding work for all young people.” …. “Now Britain is on course for surplus. On course for lower taxes. On course for more jobs. On course for higher growth.“ Source : https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/chancellor-george-osbornes-autumn-statement-2014-speech
The conservatives record on the economy:
The economy is now smaller than when Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister.[iii] The Conservatives are the party of high tax
The Conservatives are the party of high debt
The Conservatives are the party of low living standards Real average weekly earnings under the Conservatives have gone up by £17 or 2% since they came into government. Under Labour, wages rose by £183, or 27%, between May 1997 and May 2010.[ix], [x], [xi] This Parliament is on track to be the first in which real household disposable incomes fall.[xii] [1] Office for National Statistics, GDP in chained volume measures – real-time database, February 2024. Available here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/datasets/realtimedatabaseforukgdpabmi [1] OECD.stat. Available here: https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?ThemeTreeId=9 [1] ONS GDP data, seasonally adjusted chained volume measures. Available here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/timeseries/abmi/pn2 [1] Resolution Foundation, A pre-election Statement: Putting the Autumn Statement 2023 in context, November 2023 [1] Labour Party, data on file [1] Labour Party, data on file [1] OBR public finances databank February 2024. Available here: https://obr.uk/data/ [1] OBR public finances databank February 2024. Available here: https://obr.uk/data/ [1] Office for National Statistics, AWE: Whole Economy Historic Level (£): Non Seasonally Adjusted, February 2024. Available here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/timeseries/md9m/emp [1] Office for National Statistics, AWE: Whole Economy Level (£): Seasonally Adjusted Total Pay Excluding Arrears, February 2024: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/timeseries/kab9/lms [1] Office for National Statistics, CPI Index 00: All times 2015=100, February 2024: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/timeseries/d7bt/mm23 [1] Resolution Foundation, A pre-election Statement: Putting the Autumn Statement 2023 in context, November 2023 |