THERE will be few surprises when Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivers her first Budget today. In these days of carefully scripted media management, almost everything is leaked ahead of the Budget speech. Nor should socialists be surprised at Labour’s trajectory. It’s not like they’ve been hiding it.

The Labour leadership has been bending over backwards to prepare the ground for more pain, amid so-called “tough choices,” while making noises about “preventing austerity” with a sleight of hand that no-one who cares about public services, poverty and the welfare of our communities should be fooled by. 

No-one is preventing austerity. Austerity never went away, and it is still with us under Labour. By sticking with their fiscal rules, the government is guaranteeing further austerity cuts and the decimation of our council services, mental health support, libraries, and arts provision — just to name a few.

As the People’s Assembly, we believe these rules to be arbitrary and damaging. It is not just stopping the cuts that matters, it’s repairing the damage of 14 years of relentless austerity.

For that to happen, we need bold steps to rebuild and invest in our public services, our schools, our NHS, our transport systems, our economy and our communities. None of that is being proposed by this government. 

Today, after the Chancellor’s speech, we are holding a demo opposite Downing Street (Richmond Terrace), demanding that the government takes the opportunity to make the real “hard choices,” such as taxing the rich and borrowing to invest, rather than the so-called “tough choices” of withdrawing the winter fuel payments of pensioners, maintaining the two child benefit limit, attacking the benefits of disabled people — or, as we’ve seen this week, increasing bus fares by 50 per cent. 

All of these measures are about austerity — continuing the failed economic orthodoxy of 14 years of Tory governments. It is about shifting the burden onto the poorest and those most in need. 

The cuts introduced by the Labour government and their refusal to repair the damage done by the Tories are not a fiscal necessity, but a political choice.

At the same time that we are being told there is not enough money to meet basic needs and fund these crucial services, which literally save lives in many cases, the government has pledged over £7 billion to prolong the war in Ukraine and has pledged to increase defence spending by another £20bn a year.

Not everyone has been subject to austerity, of course. During the worst years of the cuts, the number of billionaires in the UK increased from 55 to 177 and since 2022, while many people were unable to afford to heat their homes, the world’s largest oil companies made record profits of £223bn.

The People’s Assembly calls for the new government to tax the rich, not because we think it will solve all problems we face as a country, but because it is a marker in shifting power. It would indicate that Labour is prepared to reverse years of wealth hoarding by the rich. Everything about Keir Starmer’s leadership from 2020 onwards tells us that’s an unlikely scenario. 

On the back of the winter fuel announcement, we’ve seen Starmer’s poll ratings fall dramatically. While there was undoubted relief at the exit of the toxic Tories, there’s little enthusiasm for Starmer’s Labour.

Because of the narrative that they’ve written into their Austerity 2.0, the Labour leadership will read that as a sign that they’re prepared to make the tough calls and pat themselves on the back. But when those choices target the poor and the vulnerable, they are anything but tough. It is a sign of deep-seated weakness.

There is another, dark side to this scenario. We know that poverty, despair and scapegoating asylum-seekers and migrants is a fertile breeding ground for fascism. Within weeks of the Labour victory, the far-right launched violent attacks on the Muslim community, mosques and on hotels housing asylum-seekers. 

Although the mobilisation we witnessed in late summer has led to a reinvigorated anti-racist movement all over the country, that heartening development isn’t the end of the story and will not be while Labour continue with their fiscal rules and more austerity.

Ex-Specials singer Jerry Dammers once described the far right as Daleks, because “no matter how many times they’re defeated, they don’t get the message.” We know that the far right will come again. We know that Reform UK is lurking, ready to capitalise on discontent and spread their bile.

That’s why we have to keep organising, not only against the far right, but against austerity too, Join the People’s Assembly in sending that message today, but most importantly, join us in rebuilding a strong, vibrant and united anti-austerity movement, on the streets and in our communities. 

Ben Sellers is national secretary of the People’s Assembly.

The People’s Assembly’s Austerity is a Political Choice Budget Day Demo takes place at 3pm. You can find out more about that, their campaign against austerity and join as a member here: www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk.