WAYNE Picton (March 21) is right to draw attention to the impact of austerity on St Helens driven largely by reduced central government funding to local councils.


Since these are mostly run by Labour, the government hopes Labour will get the blame for cuts in services.


Plenty more austerity is on the way.

Already the BBC is trying to get rid of free TV licences for the over 75s and the government has its eyes on pensioners’ heating allowances and bus passes.


Brexit, if and when it comes, will herald a new round of austerity in central and local government spending.


As former Tory chancellor Nigel Lawson put it in September 2016: “Brexit gives us a chance to complete the Thatcher revolution”.


Anyone who objects will be told that sacrifices are necessary to ensure the “success” of Brexit and find themselves accused of being “unpatriotic”. 

If people think the present situation is bad: “you ain’t seen nothing yet”!


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