Be honest, Theresa. Austerity will go on as long as the Tories want | Polly Toynbee

So easy to say, so difficult to do. May's scant offerings will barely touch the damage that's been wreaked on this country

Put out more flags! Ring the bells and light the beacons, the austerity war against the people is over! The prime minister said: "The British people need to know the end is in sight. And our message to them must be: we get it."

But "getting it" doesn't mean doing it: announcing it may be all that matters. Consider how easily her promised 20bn a year for the NHS has taken the ongoing crisis in hospitals and GP surgeries off the front pages, without a penny spent and winter approaching. Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies said today that, on top of this, 20bn extra by the end of the parliament would only stop further cuts, with the funds consumed by rising numbers of older people. That's a sobering thought - such a large sum just to stand still.

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