Restructuring (Great) Expectations
With only a week to go before the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement (29th November), the Government has been keen to soften the blow that Mr Osborne’s gloomy predictions for growth are likely to create. With a backdrop of rising unemployment and looming public sector strikes, the Treasury will have its work more than cut out to try to inject some positivity into this year’s speech.
Growth will be the key message: having already acknowledged that the economy is well behind where the Coalition had hoped it would be by this point, yet aware that its debt reduction plans are badly hurting the electorate, the Government will have to lead with a strong strategy for job creation.
The Chancellor will want to play up the positives: plans to ease credit for small and medium-sized businesses, tackling youth unemployment, boosting house-building… even ensuring that the British public are aware that they have (so far) staved off the kind of debt crises that their Euro neighbours currently face, despite the knocks to UK confidence that they have dealt.
Indeed, when in doubt (or when things look less than rosy for your own policies), it’s also a good idea to bash those of the Opposition. Had the Coalition followed Labour’s plans on borrowing, we might well be even further up the creek without a paddle, Mr Osborne will undoubtedly say.
And yet he will need to address the inevitable: the fact that growth in the economy has been slower than predicted and that people are facing an uncertain Christmas with job losses, pay freezes, pension and welfare reforms, with scaled-back public services that could create havoc for local councils and hospitals over the winter period.
In the aftermath of attacks on top executives’ pay and the demonstrations outside St. Paul’s, the Government will have to ensure it delivers a message that shows it is in touch with people’s concerns: from those of the unemployed and low-pay workers, to families and young people, through to the most vulnerable members of society.
It won’t be enough to say that the Coalition is making progress on reducing borrowing - the Chancellor will have to show that his Department is addressing people’s needs in a way that talks to individuals’ circumstances. After all, we are all in this together….
