4min chapter

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How Can We Fix The British Economy? With Paul Johnson From The IFS

Pod Save the UK

CHAPTER

Navigating Financial Challenges and Austerity Implications in British Politics

This chapter explores the financial hurdles confronting the British government, focusing on austerity measures and their implications for pensions and local services. It also teases a special guest who will offer insights into potential economic solutions.

00:00
Speaker 3
a bit serious now, Rachel Reeves says that this means that the government needs to look for efficiencies. And this is smelling a little bit like austerity 2.0 because, you know, there's no easy money. Really jol. That's been a jol. Anyway, so it's all feeling a little bit like austerity 2.0 because there's no easy money. So first on the chopping block are some infrastructure projects, which certainly cuts across the building message that Labour have been sending over the last few months. They're also looking at recovering some of the dirty cash. Oh, yes, we see we're still doing it. They went out the door during Covid.
Speaker 1
Reeves also announced that pensioners will need to be means tested to receive the winter fuel payments and hinted that the tax man, which is a Beatles song, I do know that one, might be coming soon, but stands by Labour's commitment to no new taxes for working people. So just to summarise, Sond's Music Puns, Rachel Reeves is claiming that the previous government have left a hole in the budget because they had several elements of massive unaccounted spending. And now this has left the Labour Party with a kind of serious problem financially. I think in political terms, it's sort of an attempt to create a kind of sense of the Liam Byrne note, the infamous note that was left in the Treasury when the previous Labour government left office in 2010. And a joking note that said there's no money left was used by George Osborne and kind of became a millstone that hung around the neck of the Labour Party.
Speaker 3
Yeah, and I think as well, like, you know, there's been a lot of conversation in the media about that word austerity. Is it austerity if they're giving public sector workers a pay rise? And to a certain extent, I think we're sort of getting lost in the semantics, you know, to give a real life example, my local hospital, Whips Cross Hospital, is in special measures. Labour promised that they would put some money into it and now they can't. That's my local hospital. That affects everyone. I know that affects me. It's difficult to say to a normal person, your conditions won't get better. But it's not austerity. And in a way, even that conversation, I wonder if it's a political problem for labour, but in terms of the public, I think, you know, it will all feel the same.
Speaker 1
Now look, regular listeners will know that for the last few weeks we've been exploring some of the big issues that the government needs to face over the coming parliament. And every single person we've talked to, whether it's on housing or education, it all seems to boil down to the same thing. We need more money. And given this announcement this week, that's going to be even more difficult. So after the break, we've got a very special guest to discuss the challenges that we face and he's hopefully bringing along some solutions too.
Speaker 4
Hi, I'm Stacey Abrams, host of the brand new Cricut podcast, Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams. Each week, we'll work together to better understand one of those big issues that seems insurmountable. Whether it's the electoral college, America's loneliness epidemic, or the future of Hollywood post-stripes, I'll challenge you to dig in and ask, how do we get here? What obstacles lie ahead? And what can we do to get good done? Are you in? Episodes of Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams are available starting August 15. Head to your favorite audio platform and subscribe now so you never miss an episode.
Speaker 1
Joining us now on Pod Save the UK is the name in British economics here to help us understand Rachel Ruve's statement and to unpack some of the ways we might be able to get out of this mess is the director of the IFS, Paul Johnson. Welcome Paul. Thank you. It's your name that's cropped up so frequently on this show. I think it goes through its lifespan. It feels weird. It feels like we've we've apparated you.

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