In a statement on October 30, 2024, a spokesperson for Comhairle Uladh (Ulster Executive), Sinn Féin Poblachtach, referring to the British government’s budget, said: “Reeves (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) may have cautiously stuck to every letter of British Labour’s manifesto pledges. Amongst the establishment there are very mixed views — if she has even stuck to the spirit of them.

“The run-up to the budget saw British Labour ministers tie themselves up in knots as to what exactly a working person is. Also, there had been an overt display of mental gymnastics by the British chancellor, using statements like, ‘I’ve got your back. This is your budget. I will deliver for you. It’s a budget for the strivers.’

“These platitudes change nothing. Central to the British establishment’s neoliberal dogma, workers are the problem. By having them on their knees they are not marching.

“According to, Prem Sikka, an Emeritus Professor of Accounting at the University of Essex and the University of Sheffield, a British Labour lord and contributing editor at Left Foot Forward: ‘Chancellors come and go but the crisis has deepened.’ He goes on to say that people’s living standards have been eroded through never-ending austerity and corporate profits have been guaranteed through privatisations, outsourcing of public services and Private Finance Initiative’s (PFI). It all needs to change.

“Rishi Sunak, the leader of the British Conservative Party, said ‘This is a tax, borrow and spend budget’, rich coming from the Tory Party whose long years’ in power brought the British economy to its knees.

“Sinn Féin Poblachtach continues to highlight that the British Tories and British Labour are in this together. Along with the most malign and destructive corporations on the planet, they shape the establishment. Therefore, with no mandate whatsoever they have replaced collective sovereignty (people power) with corporate sovereignty.

The results for ordinary people will be devastating!

PRO
Comhairle Uladh (Ulster Executive),
Sinn Féin Poblachtach

CRÍOCH/ENDS

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