There has been much heat and little light about getting rid of the deficit and about levels of pubic spending in this election. Some parties have hurled around allegations of big cuts to come. Let’s look again at the figures.
The story of the Coalition’s five years is very simple. They increased pubic spending by £1000 per head for every man, woman and child in the country. This increase was a little above inflation, so there was a small real increase in total spending. They increased tax revenues by £2000 a head, so the amount the state has to to borrow each year went down. Most of the increased revenue came from growth, but the increase in VAT rates also contributed.
The Conservatives wish to increase total public spending by a further £1000 per person over the next five years. This will allow, for example, the full increase in NHS spending which management is seeking. The aim is also to increase tax revenues again by £2000 per person, which will eliminate the deficit. At the rates of growth forecast by the independent Office of Budget Responsibility, the increased tax revenues all come from growth as more people get jobs and more people spend more, so there are no planned tax rises.
There should be sufficient spending in Conservative budgets to provide additional money for a new secondary school for Wokingham, new road links, and higher levels of annual funding for Wokingham schools.
Published and promoted by Thomas Puddy for John Redwood, both at 30 Rose Street Wokingham RG40 1XU
April 26, 2015
it is all a load of codswallop if you believe that
April 27, 2015
From the above your party seems to be pinning its hopes on two elements which have not been present in the near past:
Companies paying their staff salaries that do not need subsidising through tax credits and housing benefit. With the waves of immigrants set to continue the downward pressure on salaries suggest this is unlikely.
A stable population size. As above our open doors suggest this is unlikely.
Curbing immigration will bring its own problems (halting GDP growth being the most obvious but that is not a huge concern to anyone outside government and business) but will allow us to address other issues and build a more stable baseline with greater productivity.