Media Round-up: September 2019

The Independent, ‘‘Rushed’ spending review risks derailing efforts to combat domestic abuse, Labour warns’  by Maya Oppenheim

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.”

Guardian, ‘Does Boris Johnson’s government have a women problem?’ by Gaby Hinsliff

As Dr Mary Ann Stephenson, head of the Women’s Budget Group, which analyses the gender impact of economic policy, points out, it has been accepted wisdom for years now that ministerial teams should be mixed in order to better reflect the reality of ordinary lives: “I can’t understand why this lesson needs to be relearned. I remember talking about this in the 90s.” But the emerging hallmark of the Johnson regime is that no conventional wisdom should be taken for granted, perhaps particularly not in the wake of a female PM many female voters did not feel served them well.

iNews, ‘It is hard to see how ‘ending austerity’ can reverse the damage that spending cuts have done to women’ by Mary- Ann Stephenson

“We were promised a spending review that would end austerity. And with an election almost certain in the next two months there were some significant spending commitments for education, health and the home office combined with a promise of no more cuts for any department. But with public services stretched to breaking point after a decade of under-funding, today’s announcements fell far short from what was needed to end the damage austerity has caused.”