‘Rushed’ spending review risks derailing efforts to combat domestic abuse, Labour warns

Exclusive: Shadow Treasury minister says austerity has hit women and minority communities disproportionately hard

Anneliese Dodds, the Labour MP for Oxford East, raised alarm bells about the “haste” at which the spending review had been carried out in an open letter to the chancellor Sajid Javid (Reuters)

Women and minority communities may suffer because the government has rushed its spending review without taking their needs into account, Labour has warned.

Shadow Treasury minister Anneliese Dodds criticised the “haste” with which the review has been put together in a letter to Sajid Javid seen by The Independent.

Ms Dodds said the chancellor must not miss the opportunity to mend some of the damage successive Conservative-led governments’ austerity measures have inflicted on women and minority communities.

The Oxford East MP also warned the review - which Mr Javid is set to deliver on Wednesday afternoon, subject to a major ongoing parliamentary battle over Brexit - could disrupt efforts to make progress on domestic abuse.

“The government’s decision to produce a spending review for just the following year undermines their ability to implement long-term plans on issues such as violence against women and girls,” she said in the letter.

“Domestic violence organisations and shelters need to know where their funding is coming from, not just for the next year, but for years to come. The uncertainty your department’s approach has created risks derailing efforts to make progress in this area.”

Some 86 per cent of the burden of austerity since 2010 has fallen on women, research carried out by the House of Commons Library concluded in 2017.

Ms Dodds added: “The Treasury is obliged to consider the impact of its policies on equalities under the public sector equality duty. This would typically mean a public body would produce an equality impact assessment on their policy proposal. In your haste to produce a spending review, I and others fear that this analysis has not taken place.”

Mr Javid, who came fourth in the Conservative Party leadership contest in the summer, will reveal the results of a review of cash allocations for Whitehall departments for 2020/21 in his first big set-piece speech as chancellor.

Britain’s diplomatic connections around the world are expected to receive a £90m boost and the defence budget will be increased by more than the current commitment of 0.5 per cent above inflation. Boris Johnson said the spending review would be the “most ambitious spending round for more than a decade” on Monday.

The shadow chancellor John McDonnell described the spending review as an “electioneering stunt” and a “gimmick budget”.

“They will promise to spend a bit of money here and there, based upon what they’re reading on the opinion polls,” he said.

“But already what we are seeing is a lot of the money that they have promised are re-announcements of existing money, it goes nowhere near enough to tackle the backlog of austerity over the last nine years under the Tories. It is pretty disillusioning for many of those professionals on the front line who really need long-term, stable investment in their public services.”

Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson, director of the UK Women’s Budget Group, said: “The spending review announcements have to cover what has been cut previously. It needs to be filling in the gaps. The danger is it will be about short-term boosts here and there and what will win you votes during an election.

“What we are seeing from the government is a change from austerity. Suddenly Johnson has found a magic money tree for spending increases and tax cuts but these are not long-term sustainable solutions for a public sector that has been decimated. It is just electioneering. The spending review has been brought forward because Johnson has realised people are cross with austerity and there was a concern about going to an election without spending promises. But ordinary women are not going to see real improvement in their lives.”

Her organisation has produced a briefing on the spending review and women which clearly sets out areas the government needs to prioritise in order to end austerity and fully fund public services and local government to a level which is sustainable. This includes prioritising spending on social care, violence against women and girls services, health and social security.