Theresa May defends Tory austerity policies

Theresa May yesterday pushed back against pressure from her cabinet to ease austerity measures, insisting that reducing the national deficit is more important than increasing public sector pay.

In a "full-blooded defence" of cost-cutting, says the Financial Times, the Prime Minister invoked the economic crisis in Greece as an example of the dangers of overspending and economic mismanagement.

"In Greece, where they haven't dealt with the deficit, what did we see with failure to deal with the deficit? Spending on the health service cut by 36 per cent. That doesn't help nurses or patients," she said, The Independent reports.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

With cabinet ministers in "near-open revolt" over the public sector pay cap and public opinion seemingly shifting away from further austerity, "it was striking that May chose not to hint at a U-turn on pay", adds the paper.

While Chancellor Philip Hammond is expected to loosen the spending cap in the Budget this autumn, May appears to have "endorsed his view that the Tories cannot match Labour on public spending, but can win an argument on sound economic management", says the Financial Times.

The apparent hardening of May's position followed a rare intervention by former prime minister David Cameron, who labelled opponents of spending restraint "selfish" during a speaking engagement in South Korea on Tuesday, The Guardian reports.

He said: "The opponents of so-called austerity couch their arguments in a way that make them sound generous and compassionate. "giving up on sound finances isn't being generous, it's being selfish: spending money today that you may need tomorrow."

"Giving up on sound finances isn't being generous, it's being selfish: spending money today that you may need tomorrow.

"They seek to paint the supporters of sound finances as selfish, or uncaring. The exact reverse is true."

Economic arguments aside, "there is a problem with this message", says the New Stateman's Stephen Bush, adding that the Conservatives "signed away the austerity argument when they signed that deal with the DUP".

He continues: "You can't win political support for spending restraint in England, Scotland and Wales while turning on the taps in Northern Ireland."

However, Asa Bennett in the Daily Telegraph welcomed May's renewed focus on the deficit. Her "coyness about the economy" during the general election campaign was "bizarre", he says. "Conservatives will be relieved to see Mrs May taking pride in what the government she served in did."