Reeves setting up decade of national decline, says University and College Union leader

Responding to the Spring statement, UCU General Secretary Jo Grady, representing 125,000+ workers in post-16 education, said: 

'In choosing to become an austerity chancellor, Rachel Reeves is throwing workers under the bus and setting up Britain for another decade of national decline. If Reeves and Starmer fail to reverse course they will be signing their own political death warrants, paving the way for a Tory-Reform coalition. 

'Taxing the rich to invest in education and across the public realm is in the best interests of Labour and the working people the party is meant to represent.'

On Labour's approach to post-16 education, Grady said:

'Labour's failure to properly invest in Britain's universities and colleges is fundamentally at odds with its objectives of economic growth and national renewal. Our world-leading higher education sector is facing a catastrophic crisis, threatening more than ten thousand jobs. Our further education institutions remain scandalously underfunded, with teachers struggling to make ends meet. We need Keir Starmer to stop managing this decline and start investing.'