Theresa May says the end of austerity is nigh
The UK government has already relaxed a 1% cap on pay increases in place since 2010
London — UK Prime Minister Theresa May promised austerity-weary Britons an end to years of public-spending cuts, in a speech designed to paint a positive vision for the country outside the EU. “A decade after the financial crash, people need to know that the austerity it led to is over and that their hard work has paid off,” May told the Conservative Party conference in her keynote speech in Birmingham on Wednesday. Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond has faced months of calls to end the squeeze after a backlash cost the Conservatives their parliamentary majority last year. The government has already relaxed a 1% cap on pay increases in place since 2010 and promised extra funding for the National Health Service (NHS), a response to the electoral threat from the opposition Labour Party led by socialist Jeremy Corbyn, who has pledged to increase spending. Britain has brought down the budget deficit from a peace-time record of almost 10% of GDP in 2009-2010 to less than 2% in th...
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