Counterfire presents a model resolution for members to take to their trade-union branches to help relaunch the anti-austerity movement

That the policy of austerity has failed to bring prosperity to the UK; has increased the gap between rich and poor; and has been used to limit the role of trade unions in the face of privatisation and pay cuts.
That austerity has dramatically increased the number of households living in poverty and using foodbanks.
That austerity has increased the number of billionaires in the UK with billionaire wealth increasing by almost £150 billion between 2020 and 2022 alone.
That while austerity has hit working-class living standards, military spending by the British government has only continued to increase with the Ministry of Defence spending topping £25 billion pounds for the first time in the last financial year. Labour is continuing to spend huge sums on arms.
Labour has refused to lift the two-child benefit cap and has taken away the winter fuel payments from pensioners. This is Austerity. Labour is not proposing any policies to tax the rich.

That austerity is a political choice and that the alleged ‘black hole’ in public finances is nothing more than a manufactured reason to justify cruel cuts such as keeping the two-child benefit cap and the removal of pensioners’ winter fuel payments.
Attempts to divide workers and pensioners should be resisted.
That Labour’s penchant for ‘tough decisions’ and ‘fiscal responsibility’ reveal their intention to make working-class people suffer while giving free rein to profiteers, increasing the power of capital over labour.
Austerity has to be resisted by mass campaigns in the labour movement and beyond.
That it is the role of trade unions to fight against austerity and to expose the bogus reasons for it.
That austerity will render any benefits from Labour’s New Deal for Working People all but worthless.

To support any union or campaign, both locally and nationally, that is taking action against the effects of austerity.
To begin an immediate political campaign against the implementation of austerity measures by the Government and to demand investment in our public services.
To campaign for economic policies that will improve the lives of working people and seek to establish economic and social justice, e.g. the redistribution of wealth through progressive taxation.
To withdraw our support for any Labour MPs that vote for austerity.
To affiliate to the People’s Assembly Against Austerity both locally and nationally.