Unite's Sharon Graham says Andy Burnham's first Budget is a real test for Labour, and workers need changes they can feel soon. She calls for two immediate steps: ending the freeze on income tax thresholds and capping energy company profits to cut bills, which Unite estimates would give an average double-income household an extra £700 a year. For the long term, she urges public investment to rise by 1% of GDP, or around £28 billion a year, and for the National Wealth Fund, which has less than £30 billion in capital, to attract pension fund money totalling £3 trillion and channel it into rebuilding domestic industry. She argues working people have paid for successive crises, while privatisation and factory closures have left a £500 billion public investment backlog.
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Original headline: Sharon Graham : Budget is Andy Burnham first real test - it time to take a different path
Read the original on aol.co.uk ↗
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