Autumn Statement: a new Prime Minister but the same-old austerity

For local councils and communities, the Autumn Statement only tinkers around the edges, instead of bringing an end to the decades of austerity that continues to harm people every day. 

Whatever claims of ending neoliberalism the Prime Minister once made, his Chancellor has recommitted to Rachel Reeves’ made-up fiscal rules – the same ones that have left austerity ripping up our communities, underfunding our services and outsourcing costs to our residents.

As the Chancellor spoke, gambling and banking stocks rose in value. Meanwhile, he said nothing about renters, nothing about restoring local government finances, and nothing about the climate crisis. He kicked the can down the road on the urgent social care crisis, and offered families little more than a one-off £100 payment to help with desperately unaffordable bills. 

Our communities need real funding and real change now; not talk of future change, as the same-old austerity carries on.

Just this week, Hackney council published its latest financial forecast. Given the finances that this administration inherited in May, on top of growing needs from residents, and spiralling costs of delivery, we now look at a budget gap of more than £21 million over three years. That’s on top of the 11% real-terms cut to our budget since 2010, all while the number of people and complexity of need for our support has grown larger and larger. 

It’s hard to believe, but other councils are in even tougher circumstances. There is a £1.2bn funding gap faced by councils in London; in Hackney we have beaten the odds to balance our budget this year, while many other councils face bankruptcy – forcing assets to be sold off and future generations to repay today’s debts – through no fault of their own.

Our communities deserve more than just to survive. As Mayor of Hackney, I want to change our borough for good, and reverse the damage.

Today it became clear that the Prime Minister will not step up to help anywhere near enough. Yet again, we will need to make changes for ourselves.

Zoë Garbett, Mayor of Hackney