We’re often told that we can’t afford a better society. Even the most modest of reformist proposals, like those contained in the UK Labour Party’s 2019 election manifesto, are presented by our media and institutions as absurdly utopian. Despite the fact that many of its proposed policies would only have restored 2010 levels of public spending (with some, such as arts spending, falling short of even that), Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), claimed in an interview with ITV News that it was “impossible to overstate just how extraordinary this manifesto [is] in terms of the sheer scale of money being spent.”
The IFS’s own analysis of the Labour manifesto repeatedly presents all public spending initiatives as “giveaways” (a word mentioned five times in their initial response alone). This echoed the criticisms leveraged by former Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable. In an article for the Independent, Cable urged politicians to “stop pretending to be Santa handing out shiny presents.” Despite the performance of sensible neutrality, Cable’s reference to “the generous man with the white beard” made his intended target plain.
What were these “giveaways,” these “shiny presents”? A properly-funded healthcare system in which sick children wouldn’t have to lie on hospital floors? An end to the punishing austerity regime that sees precious lives extinguished all too early - like Errol Graham, who slowly starved to death after his ESA payments were stopped?
