“It is obvious to everyone that real people are suffering and the
poorest in our society are being scapegoated and punished for the failings of out of
touch government ministers.”
The government is rapidly running out of supporters for its programme of mass cuts.
Spending cuts and tax increases have consistently been promoted by the International
Monetary Fund as the cure for government’s in financial distress but now even its officials are
acknowledging austerity can do a lot more damage than previously thought.
The IMF’s chief economist, Olivier Blanchard, told the Guardian last month the time
had come for the chancellor to act on the fund’s warnings he should moderate his plans. With
a triple-dip recession looming, as signposted in the latest GDP figures which confirmed
again a lack of economic growth – the Office of National Statistics estimated GDP had
fallen by 0.3% over the final three months of 2012.
It is obvious to everyone that real people are suffering and the poorest in our society are being
scapegoated and punished for the failings of out of touch government ministers.
PCS warned more than two years ago in the pamphlet ‘There is an alternative: The case
against cuts in public spending’ that austerity couldn’t and wouldn’t work and we have
been proved right.
Ministers must now admit that there is an alternative to austerity, and abandon their
ideological obsession with cuts, target the wealthy tax dodgers and invest to grow our
economy and protect our vital public services
This information was provided by PCS HQ.
