It was, of course, a great gamble. You don’t get to leap out of a long period of national underfunding and poor conditions for workers, without taking risks. For all Rachel Reeves spoke of stability (probably the word she repeated most often in her Budget speech) this was a giant game of chicken with the private sector.
The argument that has been made by the New Statesman for so long, which is that there is no point in electing a different government if it doesn’t try to take a different course, stands. Britain has tried the low-investment, profit-taking, give the boardrooms what they want experiment for a long time; and it has not worked.
Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month
Content from our partners
