Opinion piece by Carla Denyer, MP for Bristol Central and Green Party co-leader

It couldn’t be clearer: the legacy of 14 years of austerity under the Conservatives has left us a poorer, sicker and less resilient country.

You might think, then, a Labour government elected on a mantra of ‘change’ would be determined to turn things around – to repair the deep damage done to our economy, and heal our communities.

But in today’s Spring Statement from the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves showed a shocking determination to instead double down on the last government’s failed austerity experiment, and their own figures show hundreds of people will be pushed into poverty by her plans.

We’ve already seen this government remove winter fuel payments from a million pensioners, and refuse to scrap the cruel two-child benefit cap.

We already knew that Reeves planned to strip billions of pounds of support away from those who could least afford it – pushing hundreds of thousands of disabled people further below the breadline.

But on top of that, today, the chancellor announced further cuts, slashing the health element of Universal Credit, an additional payment for those with limited capacity for work, by 50% for new claimants, then freezing it.

That is a devastating blow for disabled people seeking the support they need, especially given the spiralling cost of living.

And it comes on top of news that at least 800,000 people will lose out on Personal Independence Payments, a benefit paid to those with long-term health conditions.

Meanwhile, military spending gets a multi-billion pound boost, exposing as false the idea that we can’t afford to support those who need it.
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The government’s own assessment of the impact of their welfare cuts shows that they will plunge 250,000 people into poverty – including, unforgivably, 50,000 children.

Hundreds of my constituents have written to me to share their stories, and urge me to do something about these awful cuts.

These people are despairing at the thought that this support could be stripped away from them – worsening their health, removing their independence and cutting them off from their communities.

Let’s be clear – this is a choice, and there is another way.

While most people in this country have seen their wages stagnate over the last 15 years, their bills go up and their living costs rise, there’s another group who have had quite a different experience.

In 2024, the UK’s billionaires were estimated to have increased their collective wealth by a staggering £35million every day.

The last government presided over an enormous upwards transfer of wealth – from ordinary people to those who profit from workers’ labour, who pocket renters’ money, and who stash their cash abroad in tax havens while the government shrugs its shoulders and says there’s simply no money left.

It’s time to put an end to that – to make sure that work really pays, that everyone in this country gets the support they need, and that the super-wealthy pay their fair share along with the rest of us.

This week figures showed that nearly 8 in 10 members of the public back a wealth tax – a 2% tax on assets above £10 million which could raise £24 billion a year for our public services.