Ed Blog post: There is a lot at stake this weekend
There is a lot at stake this weekend.
David Cameron and George Osborne, preparing for Tuesday’s Autumn Statement from the Treasury, know they have some pretty devastating figures about the failure of their economic policy to deal with.
Growth has flatlined for a year, inflation has risen, while unemployment has soared to the point where there are now more than one million young people out of work.
It all makes for grim reading. So it is no wonder that, 18 months after David Cameron took the fateful decision to scrap Labour’s Future Jobs Fund, the Government has been desperately scrambling to re-create an employment programme.
We all know that David Cameron’s austerity plan is hurting people. But the evidence is now piling up to show that is not working either.
The Treasury is already having to borrow £46 billion more than it planned. That is the bill for economic failure and all the extra unemployment the Government has created.
If a further rise in planned borrowing is confirmed by the Office for Budget Responsibility on Tuesday, it will underline how far the Government’s misguided policies are taking Britain’s economy in the wrong direction.
That is why I have said David Cameron needs to change course next week and adopt Labour’s five point plan for jobs and growth.
It is time for him to stop blaming Labour, the snow, the Royal Wedding, and the euro-zone for the decisions he and his government have made on the economy.
Of course the euro-zone crisis holds huge peril for Britain but it is time for David Cameron to recognise he has responsibilities too.
He must get his head out of the sand and get in touch with all the families, the young people, the businesses and, yes, even his own backbenchers, who are pleading with him to change course.
The signs, however, are not good.
David Cameron is a badly out-of-touch politician who will always opt for a new excuse before a new direction.
And he is already reaching for his next excuse – the planned strikes on Wednesday.
It is still not too late to prevent all the disruption and hardship that will be caused to hard working families by this action.
No-one sensible can want these strikes to take place and we have consistently urged both sides to give ground.
We have always made it clear that if we were in government, there would have been some tough decisions on contributions, entitlements and retirement age to ensure that public sector pensions are sustainable in the long term.
But that requires proper negotiation by the Government. It does not mean provocation.
In recent weeks, all we have seen from David Cameron and his ministers is them ramping up the rhetoric and apparently relishing the prospect of industrial action.
I think most people are still only just waking up to the way the Government is planning to impose a 3% tax rise on public sector workers. It is not about the long term sustainability of those pensions. It is about targeting low-paid public sector workers.
If you are a part-time nurse on £17,000 you are going to be paying £360 a year more as a result of this pensions tax rise.
And the Government is refusing to get round the table on this crucial issue. Ministers have declared it is non-negotiable. This is unfair and irresponsible.
I know that the millions of public sector workers – teachers, radiographers and dinner ladies – are fed up with the arrogant, high-handed fashion in which the government has behaved.
I am not going to demonise them.
It looks to me like David Cameron always wanted a fight with them. If that is the case, he has
put politics ahead of the interests of hard-working people, ahead of families who rely on public services and ahead of the national interest.
So my message to him this weekend is: stop playing politics, get round the negotiating table.
A politician who thinks his job is as easy as ABC – blame Anyone But Cameron – needs to start taking some responsibility.
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