Labour desperate to appease British capitalist class: CPB

Rachel Reeves on her way to deliver the budget, November 26 -- UK Government, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In his initial response to Chancellor Rachel Reeves' Budget on November 26, Communist Party of Britain general secretary Robert Griffiths commented:

"Desperate to appease Britain's super-wealthy capitalist class and the bond markets, Chancellor Reeves has missed an historic opportunity to invest in public services, productive industry, low-cost Green energy and to launch a war on poverty.

Welcome steps on energy bills, ex-miners' pensions, neighbourhood healthcare centres, the two-child benefits cap, infected blood compensation, corrupt COVID contracts and family farm taxation do not add up to the fundamental change of direction needed to save the Labour government's skin.

More importantly, there is no Alternative Economic Strategy to build millions of council houses and flats, harness the enormous potential of solar and tidal power and create more than a million well-paid jobs backed by well-funded training programmes for young workers.

Instead, the OBR is now downgrading its UK economic growth forecasts for the next four years.

Nor do modest tax increases on income from wealth and property begin to reduce gross inequality across Britain and fund extra public spending without more costly borrowing charges.

Instead of freezing personal tax thresholds until 2031, costing working people more than £35bn a year, the Chancellor could have raised corporation and windfall taxes on big business profits and the top rates of income and council tax.

A one per cent Wealth Tax on the richest one-tenth of the population would yield more than £55bn. Taxing the funds stashed illicitly by UK citizens in overseas tax havens - many of them under British jurisdiction - would raise another £65bn.

And a 0.1 per cent levy on financial speculation in the City of London's foreign currency and derivatives markets would wipe out the public sector fiscal deficit in less than a week!"