Labour Can Easily End Austerity At A Strokeby Taxing The Rich Hard

Never let your opponents define the terms of a debate.

- George Monbiot

All too often, Labour has allowed the Conservatives and the billionaire press to demonise the notion of "tax and spend". It went to great lengths before the election to assure voters it had no such intention.

Now it drives home the message: instead, our needs will be met by "growth, growth, growth". But tax and spend is the foundation of a civilised society.

Few of the changes Britain requires can be achieved while adhering to the "tough spending rules" the new government has imposed on itself. We urgently need massive public investment in the NHS, social care, schools, environmental protection, social housing, local authorities, water, railways, the justice system and virtually all functions of government. We need a genuine levelling up, across regions and across classes.

The new government insists it is ending austerity. It isn't. As the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) pointed out in June, Labour's plans mean that public services are "likely to be seriously squeezed, facing real-terms cuts".

Similarly, the Resolution Foundation has warned that, with current spending projections, the government will need to make £19bn ($24.7bn) of annual cuts by 2028-29.

However you dress it up, this is austerity.

We are told: "There's no money." But there is plenty of money. It's just not in the hands of the government.