Press releases

Who rules the country: the Government or the City?

9th December 2009

Alistair Darling has today published his Pre-Budget Report - the last before the 2010 General Election.

John McDonnell MP, LRC Chair, said:

“The two questions in this Pre-Budget Report are ‘who is going to pay for this crisis?’ and ‘who rules the country: the Government or the City?’. The City has run the country for the last 12 years under New Labour, but at long last there are signs that the Government actually intends to govern and stand up to the City after 12 years of prostration.
“We welcome the taxing of bankers’ bonuses as a first small step towards rebalancing the taxation system. We now need a fairness-driven restructuring of the taxation system to tackle evasion and to redistribute wealth from high earners across the board.
“Public sector cuts - with the exception of ID cards, Trident and wasteful consultants and IT schemes - are entirely counterproductive and jeopardise the recovery. They will be met with resistance across the trade union movement and in local communities.”