How on earth does Rachel Reeves imagine that the Tory years of mismanagement can be undone without some increase in taxation (Rachel Reeves rules out wealth tax if Labour wins next election, 27 August)? You also report this week that some councils are said to be near bankruptcy, while council services are shadows of their former selves, libraries are underfunded and branches closed, bus services are cut, and the NHS seems to be in its death throes. And Reeves doesn’t propose a wealth tax?
The shadow chancellor claims to want economic growth. Perhaps she can explain how that is possible when all the public services we depend on have been cut to the bone – indeed, to the marrow.
Tom Wilson
Professor emeritus, University of Sheffield
