Actions speak loudest

Prime minister Theresa May used her first speech following Donald Trump’s US election victory to castigate the financial elite for being out of touch with ordinary people – at an event where May and this very same financial elite quaffed from £300 bottles of wine.

Last night’s (November 14) Lord Mayor’s Banquet speech heard May deliver many of the same clichés and vague, contradictory rhetoric that’s characterised her tenure as prime minister so far.

She spoke of supporting those who’ve lost out under the globalisation that’s created such stark income inequality – but moments later spoke of her government being “the strongest global advocate for free markets and free trade.”

May vowed to do something about the “new global elite who sometimes seem to play by a different set of rules” but failed to proffer any concrete steps for reining them in.

She hinted that her government would develop a “new industrial strategy” that will ensure working people “benefit from opportunities that trade brings”.

And which industries will this “new” strategy support?

“We will pro-actively support industries of the future, as well as those like financial services,” she said – in other words, the same industries that have created low-pay, insecure jobs for some while lavishly enriching others who dodge taxes and refuse to play by the rules.

In response to last night’s speech, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn argued that Theresa May – by giving a nod to those who’ve been dispossessed by globalisation – is “trying to catch up with a changing world the Conservatives do not understand.”

“There can’t be a globalisation that works for all without taking on the billionaires club that controls this rigged system,” he said.

‘Ballooning inequality’

“The Conservatives have presided over ballooning inequality,” Corbyn noted. “They’ve given tax cuts to the richest 1 percent while the incomes of 70 per cent have stagnated or fallen.

“Labour will take on the interests holding our country back. We will invest to rebuild and transform Britain, so no-one and no community is left behind.”

His words echoed those of shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who gave a speech this morning (November 15) ahead of next week’s Autumn Statement, calling for an economy driven by government investment.

He urged the government to take concrete steps to bring shared prosperity to all, including an end to austerity, long-term investment to create “secure, well-paid jobs” as well as tax system reform “so the richest pay and the rest don’t shoulder the burden.”

McDonnell also pushed the government to draw up clear plans for Brexit – a point that’s become all the more significant after a memo was leaked this morning revealing Whitehall to be in chaos over Brexit.

The memo – thought to be written by a consultant at the professional services firm Deloitte – noted that “no common strategy has emerged” over Brexit and warned that 30,000 new civil servants would need to be hired to handle additional work related to the UK leaving the EU.

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner agreed with McDonnell that we need government action now.

“The chancellor Phillip Hammond has already admitted that the austerity policies of the last Tory government have failed when he spoke of a ‘reset’ last month,” Turner said. “Let’s now see what actions the government will take.”

“Immediately reversing cuts to ESA and Universal Credit – which have left a large swath of people who are already struggling thousands of pounds worse off each year – ending the public sector pay cap and raising the minimum wage should be priorities in next week’s Autumn Statement.

“Investment in our infrastructure and spend on our public services to jumpstart an economy that’s been hobbled by years of austerity should also take precedence,” he added. “The NHS is on its knees and the government does no one any favours by fooling the public into thinking that it has already given the health service the funding it has asked for. The NHS needs substantial funding and it needs it now.”

“The government must also explain exactly what its industrial strategy will entail,” Turner noted. “Are they simply appropriating the language of Labour and trade unions or do they mean to take action to restructure and rebalance our economy with well paid, high skilled jobs, including support for our foundation industries such as steel?

“Above all, we need a concrete plan for Brexit that ensures working people don’t shoulder the inevitable costs of leaving the EU – that means retaining tariff-free access to the single market and ensuring that all workers’ rights and protections derived from the EU are unequivocally preserved.”

Stay tuned next week for UNITElive’s exclusive coverage of the Autumn Statement, when the chancellor will outline the government’s future economic plans.