How should Labour and progressives react to the astonishingly rapid collapse of Liz Truss’s economic agenda? The temptation will be to rejoice. Rejoice at the crushing rejection of trickle-down neoliberalism, the humiliation of the Conservative party and the growing likelihood of a Labour majority.
But these will be pyrrhic victories if “Trussgate” leads to a re-embracing of the fiscal conservatism that has dominated British politics for most of the last quarter-century, together with an unquestioning faith that markets know best. The new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has committed to public spending cuts across government departments, alongside reversing Truss’s tax cuts. In other words, it’s back to austerity. Hunt has even appointed Rupert Harrison to his new council of economic advisers – the architect of George Osborne’s austerity strategy in the early 2010s and currently adviser to American investment management firm Blackrock.
