Chronic. The United Kingdom is the most unequal Western European country of all, not only between social classes, but also geographically. It is not surprising, under these conditions, to see emerge after a decade of austerity and stagnation of wages a Labor Party much more left than formerly, under the leadership of its leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
During his campaign for the December 12 legislative elections, he promised a very big spending plan. Massive hiring in hospitals, 5% increase in civil service salaries in the first year, removal of university fees, free tuition for everyone from the age of two (instead of four years now), strong investments in renewable energies and energy savings … In total, the Labor Party plans 83 billion pounds (97 billion euros) of additional current expenditure and 55 billion pounds of investment (65 billion euros) more per year.
That's huge, the equivalent of a 15% increase in the UK's annual budget, but it's potentially credible. British state spending would then rise to around 45% of GDP, below the current level of Germany and France.
Do not scare the electorate of the middle classes
"The Labor Party's vision is a state not unlike what exists in some of the well-functioning Western European economies," recalls Paul Johnson, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, an institute of economic analysis. For the United Kingdom, these expenses would be to return to the level that the country knew in the mid-1970s. In other words, the Labor Party would erase the Thatcherian revolution.
What is not credible, however, is the financing of these expenses. In order not to scare the middle class electorate, Jeremy Corbyn promises that only the rich, in this case the 5% who earn the most, will have to pay additional taxes. "Our program is fully costed and there will be no VAT increase, income tax, or social security contributions for those earning less than 80,000 pounds (94,000 euros) per year," assures the leader of the Labor Party. "We are on your side," He added.
It adds an increase in corporate tax, a tax on financial transactions, taxes on capital gains and dividends … In short, only "Bankers, billionaires and the establishment", in the words of Jeremy Corbyn, will be put to contribution.
