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British Chancellor Hints at Roll-back of Austerity

© REUTERS / Ruben SprichPhilip Hammond, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer attends the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland January 20, 2017
Philip Hammond, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer attends the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland January 20, 2017 - Sputnik International
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Fiscal austerity measures have been in place in Britain since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 and has been linked to increased deaths and homelessness in Britain.

The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Phillip Hammond delivered his Spring Budget statement on March 13 in which he suggested that the government of Theresa May could begin to reverse the near-decade of austerity policies later in the year. The Chancellor declared that if levels of economic growth continued to improve into the autumn of 2018, levels of government investment in vital services could be increased for the first time since the introduction of austerity by former Prime Minister David Cameron.

Mr. Hammond cited better than expected growth projections from the Office for Budget Responsibility for the coming year which also forecast a decline in the levels of UK government debt and borrowing.

Labour's Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell attacked what he called the "complacence" of Mr. Hammond in making the National Health Service, Law Enforcement and Schools wait for a further eight months before receiving any increase in government spending, calling instead for an immediate increase.

​The Labour Party, since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as its leader in September 2015, has made its primary policy pledge to be the termination of Conservative Government austerity policies and renewed public ownership of key industries and public services.

On January 29 the British Medical Journal published a report in which it drew a direct link between lower levels of government funding for health and housing services and declining life-expectancies of the poorest members of society.

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