NEW LABOUR may have done nothing to improve the lot of the poorest, but the government has been a boon for big business.
Profits are high, and taxes low, As Chancellor Gordon Brown draws up his Budget speech, major building societies, led by the Halifax, are looking for ways to hand out up to £10 billion in "spare" cash to their shareholders.
The government, too, is awash with cash: Brown has been paying back billions in debts. There is plenty of scope for action on March 17 to repair our crumbling NHS and education system, boost pensions and benefits, tackle the housing crisis and invest in public transport.
Instead Brown seems set to stand firm on his line of austerity, making more "tough choices" at the expense of those in greatest need.
But there are already signs this government can be forced to back down. There have been concessions to anger over cuts in lone parent benefit, and hints that benefits for the disabled may be reprieved.
And now we have seen ministers fall over themselves in the rush to appease the right wing so-called "countryside lobby". If they are willing to listen to them, we must make them listen to us!
BUDGET DAY LOBBY: 1.15 pm March 17, St Stephen’s entrance, House of Commons.