Labour's Big Worry Is No One Will Feel Record Spending Surge
Britain's Labour government will make an historic investment into the country's battered public services this week — a £300 billion ($406 billion) uplift for areas such as health care, education and transport, amounting to the largest sustained funding increase since at least 2010.
The danger is the public won't notice.
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"This included clear and time-bound targets, a lifecycle approach, new actions and clear funding commitments, rather than counting work that is already under way. "Unfortunately, the draft strategy does not meet any of these key principles. "It is quite simply not good enough for the people of Northern Ireland. "Our group remains committed to working constructively with the government to eradicating poverty in Northern Ireland." The SDLP, Stormont's official opposition, said it is "impossible to be anything other than deeply underwhelmed" by the strategy. Mark H Durkan said the executive should be "embarrassed to present a document that reads more like a list of vague hopes than a plan of action". The paper sets out measures already being taken by the executive and says it will "continue to deliver a package of welfare mitigations" while lobbying Westminster on reforms and to maintain the triple lock on pensions. 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