Dear Chancellor, ‘austerity’ isn’t just about reducing public expenditure – it also applies to tax hikes, writes John O’Connell in response to the Spending Review

New Labour made it fashionable to call almost any item of public spending ‘investment’. But the Chancellor took this to new heights yesterday, keen to repeat the word as much as possible, on all available platforms. What’s more, she roundly denounced ‘austerity’, with a Spending Review that will see bigger bills by the end of the parliament.

Words matter. ‘Austerity’ isn’t just about reducing public expenditure – it also applies to tax hikes. And rest assured, that’s what we’ll have more of come the Budget in October. What we saw yesterday was a platform for prolonged and harsh taxpayer austerity, which has already caused enormous damage to employment numbers and driven productive people overseas.

A Spending Review that ensures tax rises are on the way

What was announced was........

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