Labour sets outs ‘emergency budget’ for public services
John McDonnell pledges to spend an extra £17bn a year on the NHS, social care, schools and local government

Labour’s shadow chancellor has called for an end to austerity and an “emergency budget for public services” in a speech laying out the party’s economic platform ahead of the Budget next week.
John McDonnell said Chancellor Philip Hammond was out of touch with the lives of ordinary people who are increasingly angry after seven years of cuts.
“They were told austerity was the solution to the economic crisis,” he said. “So it’s understandable that after seven years of the austerity solution, they are angry when they queue for hours at A&E, see their school laying off teaching assistants, their Surestart centre closing and the local neighbourhood police withdrawn from their streets.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

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.
Promising to spend an extra £17bn a year on the NHS, social care, schools and local government, McDonnell sought to paint the Tories as the party of tax avoidance by citing the recent Paradise Papers revelations.
He said extra spending under Labour would be paid for by tax rises for companies and “the rich”, which led to accusations Labour “would have to drive up Britain’s debts to balance the books”, says the London Evening Standard.
A week before the budget, McDonnell “wants to create a clear red line between him and the present incumbent of Number 11”, says the BBC’s Kamal Ahmed.
McDonnell has said he’s willing to borrow more to invest in infrastructure, arguing it’s a good time to do so as interest rates are at historic lows. The Conservatives claim more borrowing would lead to more debt, higher taxes and fewer jobs.
Austerity linked to 120,000 deaths
The shadow chancellor’s call for an end to public sector cuts carries added resonance after a study by UCL and Cambridge University academics linked austerity policies to more than 120,000 deaths over the past seven and half years.
Real-term funding for health and social care has fallen dramatically since David Cameron came to power in 2010. The researchers conclude this “may have produced” the substantial increase in deaths. They specifically highlighted the sharp increase in mortality after 2010, compared with the steady decline from 2001 to 2010.
The paper, published by BMJ Open, says there were 45,000 more deaths in the first four years after cuts began than would have been expected if funding had stayed at pre-2010 levels.
Based on those trends it predicted 152,141 extra deaths between 2015 and 2020 – 100 a day – which one of the authors likened to “economic murder”.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
George Floyd: Did Black Lives Matter fail?
Feature The momentum for change fades as the Black Lives Matter Plaza is scrubbed clean
-
National debt: Why Congress no longer cares
Feature Rising interest rates, tariffs and Trump's 'big, beautiful' bill could sent the national debt soaring
-
Why are military experts so interested in Ukraine's drone attack?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION The Zelenskyy government's massive surprise assault on Russian airfields was a decisive tactical victory — could it also be the start of a new era in autonomous warfare?
-
Angela Rayner: Labour's next leader?
Today's Big Question A leaked memo has sparked speculation that the deputy PM is positioning herself as the left-of-centre alternative to Keir Starmer
-
Is Starmer's plan to send migrants overseas Rwanda 2.0?
Today's Big Question Failed asylum seekers could be removed to Balkan nations under new government plans
-
Has Starmer put Britain back on the world stage?
Talking Point UK takes leading role in Europe on Ukraine and Starmer praised as credible 'bridge' with the US under Trump
-
Left on read: Labour's WhatsApp dilemma
Talking Point Andrew Gwynne has been sacked as health minister over messages posted in a Labour WhatsApp group
-
New Year's Honours: why the controversy?
Today's Big Question London Mayor Sadiq Khan and England men's football manager Gareth Southgate have both received a knighthood despite debatable records
-
John Prescott: was he Labour's last link to the working class?
Today's Big Quesiton 'A total one-off': tributes have poured in for the former deputy PM and trade unionist
-
Last hopes for justice for UK's nuclear test veterans
Under the Radar Thousands of ex-service personnel say their lives have been blighted by aggressive cancers and genetic mutations
-
Will Donald Trump wreck the Brexit deal?
Today's Big Question President-elect's victory could help UK's reset with the EU, but a free-trade agreement with the US to dodge his threatened tariffs could hinder it