What trade union leaders want to see in John Healey’s budget

The Labour government is set to deliver its first budget under Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s premiership tomorrow, with the chancellor facing calls to do more to tackle the cost of living crisis, an issue which has come to define the premierships of so many of his predecessors.

Faced with an economy that has proven to be more resilient than predicted, the UK is the fastest growing G7 country so far this year, Healey nonetheless faces a difficult balancing act, facing pressure from Labour backebenchers as well as from the country to deliver more radical measures to ease financial pressures facing families up and down the country. All this while attempting to stay within Labour’s fiscal rules, bring down debt, while reassuring the markets that he intends to keep a check on borrowing.

Not much has been given away by the chancellor in terms of what to expect, it has been kept under wraps. However, that hasn’t stopped trade union leaders from making clear what they would like to see included. Here is what some of them have said.

Sharon Graham, General Secretary of Unite the Union

Readers of LFF will know that Sharon Graham of Unite has made no secret of her desire to see more bold and radical measures included in the budget. During an interview with LFF at Labour conference, Graham made it clear that she would like to see a lifting of the freeze on tax thresholds and wanted to see a wealth tax to fund the national care service Burnham has pledged, rather than an end to the pensions triple lock.

Graham has also called for a cap on the profits of energy companies. Writing in the Mirror, she called for a boost to public investment by one percent of GDP to roll back 40 years of decline.

Fran Heathcote, General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS)

Writing for LFF on the eve of the budget, Fran Heathcote has said that this will be a cost of living crisis budget and that the government needed to find answers, fast. Heathcote writes: “Energy bills have risen in October and are forecast to rise sharply in January. Inflation has risen to 3.5% and is expected to rise further. Private rents are forecast to increase by 4-5% over the next year and mortgage costs look likely to go up again too.”

She has called for Healey to boost the pay of millions of public sector workers, writing: “The first thing to do would be to boost pay. The Chancellor is directly responsible for the pay of millions of public sector workers – many of whom have suffered real terms cuts in their incomes since 2010.

“You cannot deliver growth in every postcode if workers don’t have disposable income.”

Heathcote has also called for an excess profits levy, similar to the measures taken in the 1952 Budget under Rab Butler to tackle excess profiteering by energy companies, landlords and banks.

Andrea Egan, General Secretary, Unsion

Andrea Egan has said that the buget tomorrow will be the litmus test of whether Burnham really wants to reverse 40 years of neo-liberalism.

Writing in the Guardian, Egan said: “To measure up to his own ambitions, the party will have to implement changes to the structure of our economy unseen since the immediate postwar period. At a minimum, that means bringing sectors into public ownership and investing on a huge scale to rebuild a social fabric – our public services, infrastructure and collective life – that has been shredded.”

Egan also called for equalising income and capital gains tax, writing: “We expect a big, multiyear funding plan to restore investment and wages in our public services – alongside kicking profiteering vultures out of the public sector through bringing services back in-house. These measures should be funded by finally making the wealthy few pay their fair share of tax. It’s imperative that the prime minister and chancellor defy pressure from the business lobby and the rightwing media to reject changes such as equalising income and capital gains tax.”

Joanne Thomas, General Secretary of USDAW

Thomas has also written for LFF, calling for the goverment to do more to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, writing: “Cost of living survey results from over 7,500 Usdaw members, highlight a worrying number of low-income workers relying on unsecured loans to meet the cost of everyday essentials: 1 in 4 have struggled to pay everyday bills in the last 12 months and have had to rely on borrowing. A quarter of this was using unsecured borrowing such as payday loans or buy-now-pay-later services. 59% said financial worries are having an impact on their mental health.”

USDAW is calling for substantial reform of Universal Credit as well as a wealth tax.

“There is strong public support for the wealthiest paying their fair share of tax. The freezing of thresholds until 2031 brings millions of workers and pensioners into either paying tax for the first time of increasing the amount they pay, putting more strain on low-income households. The Government needs to take the impact of this into consideration and look at whether there are alternative ways to raise the much-needed funding for investment in our public services.”

Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward