PM Keir Starmer has been under fire for announcing cuts to winter fuel payments.

Prime minister Keir Starmer has made it abundantly clear “things are going to get worse” under the first few months of his leadership, as he looks to tighten the UK’s belt.

This is not a surprise – Labour has repeatedly blamed the Tories for leaving a £22bn black hole in the finances, which the new government says it has to fix.

Starmer has claimed that this fiscally-prudent approach will “fix the foundations” of the country and “grow the economy” in the long-term.

But do all his policies actually just pave the way for a return to austerity?

HuffPost UK takes a look at the main arguments both for and against ahead of Labour’s “painful” October Budget.

What is austerity and why does it matter?

Austerity is a policy introduced in the UK by the Tory-Lib Dem coalition after the 2010 general election.

The new government cut back on public services to try and reduce the enormous deficit after bailing out several banks during the 2008 financial crash.

Starmer himself warned against returning to austerity in the aftermath of the Covid lockdown back in January 2021.

Then the leader of the opposition, Starmer called for the Tories not to “make the mistake we made in 2010” where cuts to public services were blamed for slowing........

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