The new austerity? How Reeves’s cuts leave young people facing a lost decade
The new austerity? How Reeves’s cuts leave young people facing a lost decade
Posted by theipaper
The new austerity? How Reeves’s cuts leave young people facing a lost decade
The new austerity? How Reeves’s cuts leave young people facing a lost decade
Posted by theipaper
23 comments
An extra £29bn for the NHS and £39bn for affordable housing – these were the key pledges in [Rachel Reeves](https://inews.co.uk/topic/rachel-reeves?srsltid=AfmBOop_QtkCpUClpAs-x-ReAURmaYcFviAcqO2LErP2LmgMn1I3YPZA&ico=in-line_link)‘s [spending review](https://inews.co.uk/opinion/will-you-be-better-off-after-the-spending-review-the-i-paper-experts-verdict-3743080?ico=most_popular), but were they enough to offer hope to Gen Z? Economists don’t think so.
Britain’s young people, who have borne the brunt of cuts to public spending since the 2008 financial crisis, are still faced with a gloomy outlook: growing student loans, a slowing job market, stagnant wages and unaffordable housing.
Experts say that the Chancellor’s “investment in renewal” will have to go much further to realise her ambitions to reverse the trajectory for Gen Z and make the UK the fastest-growing economy in the G7.
It will require bigger increases to public investment, either by raising taxes or loosening fiscal rules to allow for more borrowing, economists told *The i Paper* – but what is on the horizon if this doesn’t happen?
# Rising tuition fees
Even before they enter the labour market, Gen Z are being saddled with bigger debts than older generations, who could access higher education for free.
In November, the Government raised tuition fees to £9,535 for 2025/26, ending a freeze since 2017/18.
University fees, first introduced under Labour prime minister Tony Blair in the late 90s, tripled to more than £9,000 under the Conservative-led coalition government in 2010.
Chaitanya Kumar, head of economy and environment at the New Economics Foundation, said young people are “burdened for a significant amount of time into their careers”.
Compared to Germany and France, where university is nearly free, young people in the UK are less educated, which affects their job prospects and wages, he said.
“Costs are quite high and therefore young people can’t afford it,” he said. “They come out of the education system and fall into a very low-paying labour market. That’s one problem, and that’s a function of austerity.”
Pranesh Narayanan, research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research think tank, said Blair’s plan for growth at the turn of the century was to encourage everyone to go to university and take out student loans, which has proven to be “short-sighted”, leaving some graduates in jobs they were overqualified for.
“You ended up with people being sold the story of, ‘Go to university. You’re going to take on a bit of debt, but then you’re going to get a higher-paying job.’ That’s worked for a lot of people, but it definitely hasn’t materialised for everyone,” he said.
Young people need to start to going out and voting to make their opinions heard. Until then the government will do the bare minimum. If you think you won’t be last in line for all those new affordable houses being built you’re in denial.
Unfortunately, reality exists and you can’t keep spending more than you earn. cutbacks need to happen somewhere.
Shit, only a decade? Lucky kids…
It’s a death spiral by this point. The previous 15 years of austerity left us worse off than before? How about we double down?
Poland is getting ahead of UK in more and more indicators, childhood deprivation is one of them.
New austerity?
They still espouse the same austerity lies of Dodgy Dave and his chief partner in crime, George ‘Kill The Poor’ Osborne.
Running a country like a business is just not feasible. Pay the councils what they need. Pay the universities what they need. Pay medical staff what they need. Government money has not been tied to the gold bullion for many years – the value of the pound is purely based on an abstract concept, known to you and me as ‘confidence’. Borrowing to invest in public services is ironically more likely to increase confidence in the pound.
Ditch austerity and consign it to the bin where Dodgy Dave and his cult of austerity belong.
So a decade of kids added to the previous two decades of kids.
Young people had the chance to vote in big numbers in 2015, 2017, 2019 but they didnt. So Labour won by copying the tories. I remember Ed miliband doing all sorts such as interviewing russel brand and nothing worked
Just the third generation in a row to lose a decade then.
Nothing major. Just everyone under 35 in the country completely disillusioned with the country we’re told we should love.
“Fuck the lot of them” – Rachel Reeves, George Osbourne, Jeremy Hunt, Rishi Sunak, probably.
More like a lost semi-century.
With the rise of AI it’s just going to get worse and worse.
Another ‘lost decade’ after the last one, and the one before that……….
And there we have it as predicted.
Media don’t mention Brexit so it stops existing. Blame the year long government for all peoples problems. No mention of how the old austerity fucked us, or how many resources the young lost access to post brexit.
And people will lap it up. Reform position themselves as outsiders looking to challenge the system – when the reality is they are the system personified.
Facing ANOTHER lost decade, don’t you mean?
another lost decade? I haven’t found the last one yet!
I truly fear for my children in the future if this continues. In recent years I’ve been literally budgeting my own food to bare minimum and putting all the money saved away so when they grow up they have at least something but I doubt even a decade later with how prices are increasing weekly it will be worth much
Given im 30, pretty sure all 3 decades of my life qualify as “lost”.
I have a PhD but I cant get a job, even ones I am massively overqualified for, the idea of owning my own home may as well be science fiction and society actively despises you if you are young or unemployed.
well, maybe its time to leave the UK….. oh, wait can’t do that so easily anymore either.
Then there is the fact that fascism is on the rise world over….
Not to mention the not-so-slow creeping climate disaster on the way….
Frankly if the older generations despise us so much they ought to have done the kind thing and not let us be born at all – it would have been kinder.
Edit: Downvote me all you want, but wheres the lie?
Ironically, the only thing to look forward to in life is the benefits that come with old age.
But by the time I get there it’ll all be stripped away anyway.
So ill get shafted young and old in life
At what point does she tax the super elites, tax dodgers or companies slowly stealing away all the wealth?
Middle class will be gone soon, and if no action is done then it’s the government next.
Do we just sit back and watch this happen?
Why a paper owned by Daily Mail and General Trust Group would have an anti-Labour agenda, is more than I can fathom…😏
Tory policy is bad for young surprise, that wont changed because Labour is doing them this time.
No young person has any reason to vote for either party
austerity was never a ‘temporary fix’ to short term problems in public finances, it is actually the PLANNED, PERMANENT THEFT of working and middle-class wealth, by the very richest, and it was always the inevitable conclusion of giving Capital free reign in our economy
the very richest are using their immense power to deputise ‘our’ politicians in this theft, and are using them to steal all of our public and private wealth…them creating *consecutive* ‘lost decades’ just reveals what their plan is: to create a PERMANENT UNDERCLASS and to force more and more of the population into it, until we’re ALL in it
in the end, we will be their SLAVES, and they will be free to do with us as they please…unless we organise and resist
I’m in my early thirties. I already lost every decade thank you very much
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