UNION LEADERS are expected to press British prime minister Gordon Brown to guarantee public spending and raise taxes on the rich when the British Trades Union Congress meets today.
The TUC meeting will be the last before next year’s general election, amid clear signals that British public spending will be sharply reined in after the vote – regardless of which party wins.
In his speech to the congress tomorrow, Mr Brown is to insist that the UK economy is on “the road to recovery”, but that that recovery should not be endangered by spending cuts being made too quickly.
“Today we are on a road towards recovery – but things are still fragile not automatic and the recovery needs to be nurtured,” Mr Brown will say, according to an early draft of his speech released yesterday.
Hinting, however, at the tougher spending rules to come, Mr Brown will also say: “We have to make tough choices in public spending and we will need the support of the labour movement in protecting the frontline first.”
Labour’s election hopes have been given a boost with brighter-than-expected economic figures, including a rise in manufacturing, house prices and consumer confidence, and a stock market recovery.
However, a News of the World poll indicated that voters want spending cuts rather than tax rises to deal with the treasury’s yawning deficit, while, more damagingly, voters also trust the Conservatives more with public services.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said spending cuts would spark a “double quick, double dip” recession and push unemployment over four million, threatening years “before there was any chance of returning to anything like full employment”.
The Conservatives insisted that spending cuts must happen, and quickly. Shadow chief secretary to the treasury Philip Hammond said government plans to put more money into the economy until it recovered completely are not affordable.
“The Government is proposing to spend an extra £30 billion next year, even though we are already borrowing £175 billion,” Mr Hammond said. “We don’t think that’s affordable.”
Despite falling membership, the TUC’s influence on the Labour Party is still considerable since it now contributes 60 per cent of the party’s funding, following a collapse in private donations after a series of damaging disclosures.
