1.3 million Jobs to be Lost due to UK Budget
It’s being reported that the UK budget will result in 1.3 million jobs being cut over the next 5 years. Apparently, the Treasury’s private assessment, which was leaked, found that spending cuts will cost as much as to 600,000 public sector jobs, as well as up to 700,000 private sector jobs, by 2015. However, it is also estimated that 2.5 million private sector jobs will be created during the same amount of time.
The Treasury’s assessment revealed that 100,000 to 120,000 jobs in the public sector and 120,000 to 140,000 jobs in the private sector could be lost every fall for the next 5 years due to the budget cuts. Chancellor George Osborne didn’t mention the emergency budget’s full consequences, and Shadow Chancellor Alistair Darling has criticized him for it.
Darling said on Tuesday that hundreds of thousands will pay the price for the Conservatives’ poor judgment, which is being fully supported by the Liberal Democrats. These measures didn’t have to be taken; they were chosen, he added.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union general secretary Bob Crow is calling for a coordinated strike in response to the budget plans. He says that direct action will be necessary to halt the coalition’s savage assault on jobs.
Some of the spending cuts and tax increases that were announced last week include an increase in VAT to 20%, a rise in insurance premium taxes, as well as a levy on bank profits. The government also plans to raise the capital gains tax, while the personal income tax was increased to protect low-earners from income tax.
The new coalition government has made reducing the country’s huge budget deficit a top priority after the sovereign debt crisis hit the Eurozone. However, Labour is arguing that cutting the budget further and faster may endanger the recovery of the economy.