Reverse austerity

Austerity has pummelled living standards and public services. Now is the time to end it.

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The decade of austerity so far has been the worst economic policy error in a generation. As a consequence, living standards have suffered substantially, and public services diminished. Reversing austerity will mitigate these harms and have other beneficial effects, including boosting demand, which will drive up productivity. Proposals include:

• Frontload public investment for a​‘green transformation’. The government’s official advisor on climate policy (Committee on Climate Change) estimates that transitioning industry to net zero carbon will require public and private investment worth 1 – 2% of GDP by 2050 (£20 billion to £40 billion in 2019/​20 prices). A significant portion of the required public investment should now be front-loaded over the next five years.
• Increase public spending on services. NEF analysis has shown that between 0.5% to 1.5% of GDP – around £15 billion to £32 billion in 2019/​20 prices – would be needed to meaningfully improve services and reverse austerity across education, health and care by the mid-2020s. Government should use the next multi-year Spending Review to increase investment in public services to meet social need and address inequalities.
• Increase the generosity of social security. Government should create a new​‘weekly national allowance’ – worth £2,500 per year for almost all adults, plus an increase in child benefit – by abolishing the personal allowance of income tax. The proposal redistributes £8 billion a year from the richest 35% of families to the remaining 65%, with most of the gains concentrated on the poorest 10% who are most likely to spend rather save any increase to their incomes.

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