Session Twenty-One
The Autumn budget is coming, and the government is singing a familiar tune. It’s a song of difficult choices, no money, and sensibly balancing Britain’s books. All the more difficult to believe after multi-billion splurges on military and dirty energy.
In reality, it’s a primer for likely tax rises and welfare cuts for working people.Whereas, the super-rich are unlikely to pay their fair share towards the country, despite rising inequality.
The government are short of ideas of how to do things differently. So, for this FFT we’ve assembled campaigners, economists, and politicians to clarify the state of our economy and discuss the change we want to see.
Does the government need money? What does continued growth look like? At what cost? What are the alternatives? How can we live comfortably while taking the environment and climate crises seriously?
🗓 Thursday, 20th November
⏰ 6.30PM GMT
🌐 Online, RSVP for the link
Confirmed speakers include:
🌟 Ellen Fearon | Ellen is a Senior Organiser with Green New Deal Rising, a youth movement rising up for climate justice. Ellen works to organise young people into action; to hold politicians to account, reach deep into our communities & elect inspiring climate champions into office.
🌟James Meadway | James is Senior Director, Economics at Opportunity Green. He was previously chief economist at the New Economics Foundation, economic advisor to the Shadow Chancellor, and director of the Progressive Economy Forum, before working at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, focusing on Loss and Damage financing for the Global South. He has taught and lectured at Sussex, SOAS, City and Cambridge Universities, has written widely on economics and economic policy, and hosts the economics podcast, Macrodose.
🌟 Cllr Matthew Brown | Matthew Brown has been a Labour Councillor in Preston since 2002 and Leader since 2018. He is the driving force behind the ‘Preston Model’ of Community Wealth Building and has been making headlines at a national level for some time for his transformative approach to local economic development.
🌟Nuri Syed Corser | Nuri leads on War on Want’s economic justice campaigns, with a particular focus on taxing extreme wealth and the UN tax Convention. He’ll be speaking to us as a campaigner for Make Them Pay, an alliance demanding the government tax the super-rich, protect workers and make polluters pay.
