Broken Britain Budget
Labour Together’s Chief Executive, Jonathan Ashworth, writes ahead of the first Labour Budget for 14 years.
Tomorrow will be a historic moment to give back hope to the country, although one Budget can't fix years of Tory failure.
The Tories left behind one hell of a mess. The public finances were shot to pieces and there is a mammoth black hole to be filled.
Tory ministers racked up huge bills making promises on the never-never, that this Labour government now needs to clear up. They helped push up mortgages for hard-working families and left our public services, especially the NHS, broken.
There will have to be tough decisions to build a sound and a prosperous economy.
By fixing the foundations, the Labour government can turn the economy round and focus on people’s priorities.
Rachel Reeves has already announced reforms to the way the government makes its spending decisions, with tough rules that determine investment.
It means the Labour government can get on with rebuilding the NHS. One of the biggest drivers for previous Tory voters switching to Keir Starmer in July was the state of the NHS.
It's hardly surprising. In every town and city queues of the sick and elderly wait longer and longer for treatment. Any parent who has waited hours in an overcrowded A&E with a poorly child will tell you how chaotic it can be as hard-working doctors and nurses are overwhelmed.
The state of the NHS is so bad that the numbers of people turning to the private sector is on the increase, while those who can't afford to pay are left languishing longer in pain.
When I was in frontline politics, I was always a passionate defender of our NHS. I still am. Fundamentally, I believe everyone deserves a decent quality of life with access to good health care.
Conservatives will object - as they always do - that we can't afford to invest in the NHS. Quite simply, we can't afford not to.
Record waiting lists and ill health now has a direct impact on the nation's economic prospects.
The numbers out of work for reasons of long-term sickness stand at over 2.5 million - at a time when firms are crying out to fill hundreds of thousands of job vacancies in the economy.
The state of the NHS has put people's livelihoods at risk, with so many unable to work.
Cutting hospital waiting lists isn't just good for those in need of treatment, it's now a vital pro- growth economic measure too.
The NHS was never safe in Tory hands. But Labour founded the NHS and always rebuilds and reforms it. A Budget boost would be just what the doctor ordered.
This article first appeared in the Sunday Mirror.
