AHEAD of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement this Wednesday demands are coming from the Tory press for further tax cuts for the rich. The Telegraph leads the call for a cut in inheritance tax — benefiting just the top 5 per cent.  Others are calling for cuts in income tax — again skewed to shore up support from richer Tory voters now deserting to Reform UK.    

Against this local councils have issued today desperate warnings that key services for vulnerable children are unsustainable. These are among the 4.2 million children currently living in poverty who have already been some of the main victims of Covid austerity and the inflationary crisis. 

However, such calls could equally be made for the NHS, for schools, for fire, ambulance and emergency services, for public-sector housing and for benefits. All these basic services have been scarred by two inflationary years of corporate profiteering which has also left the bottom 10 per cent of our population 7 per cent poorer — and the top 10 per cent 7 per cent richer.