Labour MPs want to see an end to Conservative austerity

Rachel Reeves will deliver the Spring Statement on Wednesday (Alamy)

4 min read25 March

Austerity is synonymous with the decline in public services, stagnation of incomes and fall in living standards we saw over 14 years of Conservative government.

No wonder the Chancellor is determined to rule out a return to austerity in the week of her Spring Statement.

People feel poorer, and that is simply because so many are. Whether in cash terms or in real terms, millions have seen how pensions here remain amongst the worst in Europe, the value of their pay has fallen, and social security has been slashed.

That’s why, when it comes to delivering a Plan for Change, Labour MPs and constituents alike want to see an end to Conservative austerity and a return to investment in services. They want an end to the low-pay, low-income agenda of the Conservatives, and for the public to enjoy some extra pounds in their pocket under Labour.

For that, we need the Spring Statement to set out a vision of public investment to rebuild those lost services and drive our future economic growth that spending reductions have so prevented. From there, reform of welfare should be much more achievable.

The publication of the government’s green paper on welfare rightly identified that the current social security system is broken and needs to be on a fairer, more sustainable footing. But its proposals for reform are worrying Labour MPs.

We want to see a Labour government deliver positive change – and cutting incomes for vulnerable social security recipients isn’t part of that agenda. In Parliament, I heard the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions unveil her green paper with a resounding message of positivity. Back in the constituency, I heard real concerns about those same proposals in a meeting with my local Citizens Advice office.

The government will need to convince Labour MPs that these reforms can be delivered without a cut to living standards

This government must show that its welfare reforms do amount to an improvement in living standards. That will be a considerable challenge when all the organisations we trust – the citizens’ advice groups, disability and welfare advisors and food bank volunteers – are warning against the proposals.

What should be an opportunity to achieve the transformative change so many constituents need is instead creating real anxiety. Some of the measures announced, including the employment of a new generation of work coaches and legislating for a right to try, offer the chance for those who can enter work to do so, with the necessary support. But this must be done by also working with disability charities and others with expertise at ground level to create a fair system.

Middlesbrough is the fifth most deprived local authority area in England and has become more deprived since 2015. Employment is lower – and child poverty higher – than other areas in the North East, let alone the UK as a whole. Over 22,000 people in my constituency are in receipt of Universal Credit. A third of those are in work. In Middlesbrough local authority area, 14,000 have been granted PIP since 2019.

These are significant numbers who are concerned about the impact of £5bn worth of cuts, from the changed Personal Independence Payment criteria to the cuts to Universal Credit. Neither of these measures have an impact assessment to accompany them – a decision of the government’s timing. The IFS and the Resolution Foundation say those affected will lose thousands of pounds per year.

And these are the measures not subject to the forthcoming consultation. The lack of openness to a formal submissions process from serious stakeholder organisations must be galling for them.

These proposals will be subject to legislation in Parliament, however, and the government will need to convince Labour MPs that these reforms can be delivered without a cut to living standards.

I have already been inundated with emails from worried constituents making it very clear just how terrified they are at the prospect of their social security benefits being frozen or cut.

The government must convince social security recipients, and disability and advice stakeholder organisations, that those who are dependent on these measures to hold their lives together will not be affected detrimentally, and that living standards won’t fall, if it is also to convince MPs to support these proposals.

Andy McDonald is the Labour MP for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East