"After nearly a decade of chronic underfunding, our public services are in crisis. An increasingly
penurious welfare system is failing the most vulnerable in society3, and severe cuts to local
council funding and funding for other public services have led to the steady deterioration of our
social infrastructure.4 To reverse this, we need an end to austerity that means more than simply an
end to budget cuts or a few headline-grabbing measures to increase funding in areas where there has
been media attention. We need sustained investment in a range of public services and a better
social security system so that people on the ground see a marked improvement in public services and
a rise in living standards more generally.
A generous programme of investment is desperately needed not only to actively reverse the cuts and
return spending to pre-2010 levels, but also to provide better public services in areas where need
is greater now than ten years ago or requirements are different in today’s world. In many cases,
(for example social care), spending will therefore need to be higher than it was in 2010, when the
number of people with care needs was lower than today but spending was already inadequate. We need
a new attitude to public spending that recognizes that a significant public investment boost not
only is needed but could have positive effects on employment, the economy and everyone’s
well-being.5"
