FBU balloons on a demonstration

The Fire Brigades Union general secretary Steve Wright has warned that the chancellor Rachel Reeves should not adopt an ‘austerity’ approach to welfare. Wright made the comment after reports that the Treasury is seeking to cut billions from welfare spending.

Wright said: “Cutting billions of pounds from Welfare would be a return to the austerity of George Osborne and the Tories. It would be an outrageous attack on the poorest and most vulnerable.

“Many workers who are in receipt of income support and other benefits would suffer from any cutbacks. Food bank use and ‘In Work’ poverty remain widespread after nearly 15 years of Tory austerity.

“To make further cuts to the already derisory levels of welfare support would be to declare war on poverty-stricken families. Hard pressed families must not be made to pay the price of nearly a decade-and-a-half of Tory mismanagement of the economy.

“The Chancellor must use her Spring statement to tax the rich to properly fund public services and increase pay.

“Rachel Reeves must not become Labour’s ‘Austerity Chancellor. The Fire Brigades Union will fiercely resist any cuts announced in the Spring Statement.”

Image credit: Socialist Appeal – Creative Commons