It should not be, despite what Larry Elliott says, a case of “buying off” striking workers, but of the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, using the budget to end the crisis in the funding of public services (Jeremy Hunt’s 2023 budget: five things to look out for, 6 March).
A sensible government would borrow and increase taxes on the rich and high earners to do this, but instead we will doubtless see nothing of the sort. We will, however, see some token gestures typical of these self-proclaimed One Nation Tories. Unwilling, just like the founder of the theory of One Nation conservatism, to make fundamental changes to reduce poverty, Hunt and Rishi Sunak will make ineffective window-dressing changes of the sort that Benjamin Disraeli introduced to try to trick voters.
