Refusing to Learn Lessons
Rachel Reeves has pledged to deregulate the financial sector, arguing there is too much focus on ‘risk’ and not enough on ‘growth’. For working people, it’s a recipe for disaster.
267 Articles by:
Grace Blakeley
Grace Blakeley is a staff writer at Tribune.
The Economics of Despair
Of the ten most deprived areas of Britain, seven saw far-right pogroms this summer. Any attempt to counter the rise of fascism must start with reckoning with and stamping out the system which spawned it.
The Price That Was Paid
Donald Trump’s victory came from leaning into working-class America’s anxieties over economic decline — and unless the Left’s economic offer becomes as strong, they leave the pitch open to the Right.
Gambling on Growth
Without shifting the balance of wealth and power between workers and bosses, Rachel Reeves is banking on economic growth to make everyone richer. But if this fails and living standards continue to decline, it will be the far right that benefits.
Labour’s Austerity Is a Choice
Despite what Keir Starmer claims, there’s nothing inevitable about another round of harsh cuts — it is a deliberate decision to avoid confronting the powerful.
Building the Klarna Country
In seeking to restore Private Finance Initiatives for the building of new infrastructure, Rachel Reeves is ignoring the realities of a ‘buy now, pay later’ approach — massive profit for corporations, with taxpayers footing the bill.
The Climate Apartheid
While the wealthy are able to insulate themselves from the worst effects of climate breakdown, the poor are forced to bear the costs of a crisis they did not cause.
Breaking Britain All Over Again
Rachel Reeves’ plans to slash public spending and investment on the basis that Britain is ‘broke’ is a rehash of the exact rhetoric that gave us 14 years of Tory austerity.
Capital’s B-Team Are Ready to Take Charge
Keir Starmer claims that Labour is now ‘pro-business and pro-worker’, but the order of these priorities is no coincidence. Yesterday’s manifesto confirmed that the interests of big business and the wealthy will come first under a Labour government.
Europe Is Warning Us
The fascist surge across the European Union is directly down to the bankruptcy of centrist politicians — whose failure in addressing soaring inequalities and deep social problems should haunt Starmer’s Labour.
Reeves’ Fiscal Technocracy Will Lock in Austerity
Labour’s new ‘fiscal lock’ means enhancing the power of unelected bureaucrats in the Office for Budget Responsibility. But handing more power to a body that has downplayed the impact of cuts on the economy will only lock in hardship, writes Grace Blakeley.
The Establishment Fundamentalists
When centrists claim to be guided by common sense over populism of ideology, they ignore that their loyalty to a bankrupt status quo is a fanaticism of its own.
Bevan Fought for the NHS — and so Must We
A new play at the National Theatre explores Nye Bevan’s hard-fought struggle against healthcare profiteers to create the NHS — a fight we must rediscover to save the service from today’s privatisation-loving politicians.
It’s Time to Revive the Lucas Plan
In the 1970s, workers at Lucas Aerospace proposed saving the company by producing technologies that fight climate change instead of waging war — showing how workplace democracy can solve the crises of capitalism.
The Golden Goodbye Budget
Jeremy Hunt’s final budget is a straightforward giveaway to every millionaire and landlord in our country — a parting glass to the only people they bothered serving in over a decade in power.
Property Developer Patriotism
The irony of Keir Starmer’s plan for a ‘patriotic economy’ is that it relies on corporate developers to enrich shareholders, many of which don’t pay their taxes in Britain.
The Bank of England Independence Disaster
New Labour’s technocratic managerialism agenda involved ceding control of the Bank of England — a decision with profound consequences to this day. While unelected technocrats are able to hike interest rates and engineer economic slowdowns, workers will remain worse off.
Britain’s Forever Recessions
Today, the economy officially fell into recession — but it’s unsurprising when austerity has starved the country of all the investment it actually needs.
Labour Has Given Up on the Climate Crisis
On the same day that climate scientists announced the world had breached the warming limit of 1.5 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels, Starmer effectively announced that he had given up the fight against climate breakdown.
El Salvador’s Activists Are Being Punished for Beating Corporate Greed
Five activists involved in El Salvador’s historic metal mining ban have been arrested. The spurious charges are proof of the threat authoritarian president Bukele’s cosy relationship with big business poses — both to democracy and to human life.