Autumn budget: Chancellor Rishi Sunak should have the courage to think big like Roosevelt and Beveridge – Christine Jardine MP

There are moments in history when the actions of an individual or government determine not just the immediate future but the course of their country’s and population’s economic health and well-being for decades.

Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal was credited with helping the US recover from the Great Depression in the 1930s (Picture: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal was one, and William Beveridge’s vision of the welfare state another. Both were instrumental in changing the societal and cultural fabric of their nations.

But Roosevelt is also credited with a paradigm change in economic thinking. The USA’s economy was rebooted and its status as an economic superpower ensured by his reaction to the Great Depression.

I dread to think how the post-war world could have looked without either man. And in 2021 we find ourselves again at a crucial point in such a pivotal moment.

As we wait for the Chancellor’s autumn statement, families, businesses and young people looking to their future all hope for something if not on the scale of FDR’s, vision at least reaching for it.

But the history and lack of leadership in this government’s suggests, sadly, that we shall be disappointed.

Too often this government has seemed to focus on ‘style over substance’ in the on-going crisis, preferring to send the Chancellor to wait tables for the TV cameras rather than address the very real strains on small businesses.

The PR spin may have been good but that mask, the only one this government seems prepared to wear, has slipped with official parliamentary reports highlighting their lack of leadership.

William Beveridge, seen with sculptor Benno Elkan, helped lay the foundations of the welfare state and the NHS (Picture: Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Too many of the decisions in the past 18 months have been too slow, too late or simply bad when what we have needed is clear, consistent and effective leadership.

We need to hear a plan that will plot a course out of this crisis with a needle-sharp focus on repairing the damage done to our children’s education by the delays and disruption.

We need to address the labour shortage which threatens to derail our recovery before it gets going and, above all else, seize the opportunities afforded by the COP26 climate summit to make the progress towards protecting the planet which this government has failed to take.

Will Chancellor Rishi Sunak rise to the task of leading the UK out of its current crises? (Picture: Andrew Fox/WPA pool/Getty Images)

We all know that recovery will be expensive but the sad reality is that the bill would more easily be met had it not been for the mistakes, failed contracts and mismanagement of Johnson’s team.

They squandered £2 billion pounds of taxpayer’s money on contracts for personal protection equipment for the NHS so poor in quality that it could not be used.

Then there was the £37 billion spent on test-and-trace which a parliamentary committee has concluded there was “no evidence” of it having reduced Covid infection levels in any way.

At the same time, official figures tell us that more than a quarter of a million children across the UK will be pushed into poverty by the government’s cuts to Universal Credit.

It’s staggering. Our money squandered while our families are pushed into poverty and schools lose an unimaginable amount of in-person teaching time with the young people who are our future.

That is where this government should be focusing every ounce of its energy. Our children, our young people, our families who stand to lose out in this perfect storm of economic, health and energy crises.

So now we watch and wait for the Chancellor’s response. A long-term strategy. Some. Leadership.

Now is not the time for the short-term, quick fix of the hedge fund manager or carefully balanced spreadsheet of the precise accountant. What we need now is an imaginative, mould-breaking formula for getting out of this crisis.

Not another well-intentioned ‘Eat Out To Help Out’ scheme that not everyone was convinced was the best use of cash for the industry. Followed by a Covid spike in the autumn.

We need a plan that says to the big names that have profited from the crisis that it’s time to step up to the plate, and shoulder their fair share of the burden from the excess profits that they have made to ensure we call a halt to economic stagnation that is pushing seven children every minute into poverty.

More than anything else, we need some empathy from the Exchequer for our young people who have been hit hardest by the pandemic. And this time wearing a hoodie to look like one of the cool kids just won’t cut it.

When the Chancellor takes to his feet on Wednesday, we need to know that there is more than fancy financial footwork on his mind.

The PR that looks good and sounds approachable is not enough to build the solid foundations that not just our economy but our society, our communities and our families need to recover.

Small business needs to see that there is a plan to fill the widening skills gap. Liberal Democrats want every adult in the country to have £10,000 funding to support re-training. We should be investing in our people, not contracts for our chums.

Hauliers need to know that there is a plan to help them keep supply chains running. And those fighting to keep themselves out of that ever-growing poverty trap need to know that somewhere in the Chancellor’s labyrinth of spreadsheets and figures, there is a column for them. Something that recognises their need.

True credibility comes with courage. If the Chancellor doesn't have it, that's one thing. If he chooses not to use it, not to step up for all those who need him, that's another.

Christine Jardine is the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West

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