Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has dismissed Theresa May's assertion that austerity is coming to an end, saying the claim "lacked credibility". After the prime minister used her conference speech in Birmingham to signal the UK was on the brink of ending its period of economic restraint, McDonnell pointed to severe shortfalls in local council budgets and withdrawal of children's services to contradict her claim. The shadow chancellor said he had been told by a senior NHS official at the Department for Health (DH) that there would be no more money available from central government after 2020.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has dismissed Theresa May's assertion that austerity is coming to an end, saying the claim "lacked credibility". After the prime minister used her conference speech in Birmingham to signal the UK was on the brink of ending its period of economic restraint, McDonnell pointed to severe shortfalls in local council budgets and withdrawal of children's services to contradict her claim. He also referred to a forecast from the Institute for Fiscal Studies which said that 75% of this year's planned welfare cuts had yet to come into effect.