John McDonnell demands 'emergency Budget to end past failures'
2 min read
John McDonnell will today demand an “emergency Budget” for public services as he lays out Labour’s vision for the British economy.
The Shadow Chancellor will set out five proposals he will urge Philip Hammond to take up in his Budget next Wednesday, including a pay rise for public sector workers.
In a speech in Westminster today, he will call for a break with “past failures” and demand:
- A pause in the roll-out of Universal Credit to fix delays in benefits payments
- Funding for public sector pay rises
- More cash for infrastructure such as road and rail projects
- Increased funding for health, education, and local government
- A large-scale house-building programme
Mr McDonnell is set to say: "The Tories have created an economy in which the rich elite at the top do better than ever, while the rest of us have to live with our vital public services teetering on the brink.
"Philip Hammond wants you to believe there is nothing that can be done to end these scandals.
"He wants to pretend he cannot invest on the scale needed, yet he has already borrowed more in his first year as Chancellor than any of his predecessors in their first year at the Treasury."
But Economic Secretary to the Treasury Steve Barclay shot back: "We have turned our economy around by taking a balanced approach to public spending and backing businesses to create better, higher-paid jobs.
"Labour always take it too far and we know what that means from last time - more debt, higher taxes, fewer jobs - and ordinary working people paying the price."
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