Tax rises and tax cuts

Someone briefed the press that the Chancellor has asked officials to give him options to cut taxes in 2023 and 2024. He wishes to be seen as a tax cutting Finance Minister. Why does he need officials to tell him? Surely an intelligent  Conservative Chancellor should have his own tax cutting priorities?

 

Why plant such a story. He is clearly defined as a tax raising Chancellor on a large scale.. He has broken the Conservative Manifesto pledge not to increase National Insurance by a damaging and needless rise from next April. The  options mentioned in the press do not include getting that back down again.

He has announced substantial hikes in Corporation tax rates which  will probably mean collecting less revenue than keeping rates low. Treasury  models of future CT revenue  have been regularly wrong, underestimating the boost from lower rates. He should set our rate at the  new world minimum rate he wrongly signed us up to.

He has frozen Income tax allowances in order to drag many more people into higher rate tax over the  next couple of years. This penalises people for getting promoted, gaining new qualifications and working hard. It is an anti levelling up policy. This is not a formal break of the Income Tax promise but it is certainly not keeping rates down for people getting a rise at certain income levels.

If the Chancellor really wants to be a low tax Chancellor he needs to reverse the  tax rises he plans before they bite next year. He can use the excuse that in the first half of this year the deficit came in £50 bn below the idiotic OBR forecast, giving him more  scope than he needs for my proposal. He can also argue  that as the economy slows from here he needs to give it a boost to continue a decent recovery. Everything points to the need for him to act as they brief, to become the tax cutting Chancellor.

178 Comments

  1. lifelogic
    December 5, 2021

    Indeed – cutting taxes just before the next election only to raise them again post election fools no one Mr Sunak. Even before Covid, Sunak’s first action was to cut Entrepreneur’s relief by 90% clearly the man a tax to death socialist at heart. We still have not been given the ÂŁ1 m IHT threshold each promised by Osborne – in the US the threshold is ~ ÂŁ6m, sensible countries have no IHT. Tax cuts need time to do their good works and people, businesses and investors need to know they are real and here to stay. With Sunak we know he is a tax, borrow, over regulate and piss down the drain Chancellor and with an even worse Labour/SNP as the only real alternative.

    Dennis Healey gave us income tax rates 98% under Osborne, Hammond and now Sunak taxes are often well over 100% for landlords, on stamp duty and CGT without indexation. The man’s yet another PPE Oxon fool & socialist.

    1. lifelogic
      December 5, 2021

      And with the lunacy of net zero and the massive health mistake of the government vast over reaction to Covid on top of this lunacy just to add petrol to his economic bonfire fire lunacy.

      “I am in favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it’s possible.” Milton Friedman. Me too, in the UK the government and taxes are at least double the size they should be and it does far more harm than good. Giving us a far smaller tax base.

      1. lifelogic
        December 5, 2021

        Plus we often have appalling and declining public services as well as very high taxes, as we see with the police and social services and the death of this poor boy (once again). Lessons will be learned they – as they always say but never do.

        1. Hope
          December 5, 2021

          If JR was thought to be an influence for good in his party he would be in govt. He is used as a meagre example of a conservative while his party represents none of his views from BBC, energy, economy, taxes, immigration, local councils etc. You name it his party is no where even close to his views.

          JR is in the departure lounge along with a few others to con the public his party is different from Labour. Reality is Johnson’s govt, and that of May, is left of New Labour. Even Corbyn dragged them left!

          Come on, did anyone even consider the musings of Sunak seriously? Tax is at a 70 year high. A choice, not accident nor necessary. He took the post accepting the dept. was run from No. 10. Every former Tory minister stated it was not a conservative budget, some commentators claimed it socialist! The budget before was a high spend and waste 11 days before they shut down the country and economy!!

          NHS : ÂŁ37 billion wasted on track and trace, ÂŁ34 billion wasted on a computer system. No one sacked censured or investigated! No, instead given more billions without a plan how it will be used! Hunt, Handcock and now Javid totally and utterly useless based on performance. Hunt did not even stop health tourism, he dropped all plans to do so. Stevens, a former Blaire advisor, allowed to run the NHS! Blaire giving advice to Handcock how to roll out vaccinations! Not denied by Handcock.

          1. Jim Whitehead
            December 5, 2021

            Hope, +1, so true.

          2. Donna
            December 6, 2021

            Great comment. And yes, they use the few remaining conservative Conservative MPs in the same way they used the few genuine Eurosceptics in the Parliamentary Party: as a means of fooling most of the people, most of the time ……. until Farage/UKIP gained enough traction to turn the tide.

            We need the same to happen again. Hopefully Richard Tice and Reform will do the job.

          3. dixie
            December 6, 2021

            Oh dear, dining on the ashes of Bexley & Sidcup where the Con vote share certainly dropped significantly but the bulk went to Lab and not Reform UK or UKIP?
            So you take it out on our host because he won’t jump ship for you.
            Perhaps after so many years of trying the same approach and failing every time you need to try something else, something different from the get in power quick scheme you seem to have preferred.
            How about putting in the bloody boring, grinding work of establishing a reputation in local administration before asking people to vote for you in a general election. Have a track record of delivery and competence you can point to. Evidence that it won’t be an empty vote and your leaderership will actually strive for our benefit and won’t leave the field at a critical moment

          4. Dennis
            December 6, 2021

            No response to Hope, on your no influence on anything, JR?

          5. Lindsay McDougall
            December 7, 2021

            JR is not the only one in the departure lounge. Richard Tice’s Reform Party got 6% of the vote at the recent by-election. He can add my vote unless the Conservative Party becomes a genuinely low spending, low taxing Government. Will that “let the Socialists in”? I take it that means the other Socialist Party. Between Tweedledum and Tweedledee I have no preference and am free to indulge my fancy.

      2. lifelogic
        December 5, 2021

        Just how incompetent is the NHS? They now want to use GPs (with all their long expensive training and experience) to drop much of their usual work do Covid booster jabs. A task than anyone with half a brain and a bit of manual dexterity could do with 30 mins of training. What an insane waste of valuable and much needed resources.

        AS FEW as one in five excess deaths in some parts of England can be attributed to Covid. Since the start of July over 22,500 more deaths than usual for this time of year have been recorded across England and Wales. The sensible Prof Carl Heneghan, director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Oxford has called for an “urgent investigation”.

        With the NHS as poorly run as we see above is it any wonder so many are dying not of Covid but of lack of any decent functioning healthcare system. Even the deaths within 28days of a positive test are not all Covid caused deaths as we know. Plus many of these non Covid deaths are sadly of young people as can be seen in the stats.

        1. Hat man
          December 5, 2021

          There are excess deaths, not because of a lack of a public health system, but because of orders from on high last year not to use it. Remember: ‘protect the NHS’ by staying at home? As a result, and surely to the surprise of nobody at all, people got ill and died. The only question is how many people can believe that was incompetence. Taking doctors away from frontline healthcare to administer injections, as you say, is absurd, and again the question must be whether it’s a matter of incompetence. I don’t think so.

          1. lifelogic
            December 5, 2021

            There is certainly a lack of prompt and decent GP’s, decent health care and emergency services (though some patients may indeed have been put off as you say). You can easily die while waiting hours for an ambulance. To use valuable GPs to do a job almost anyone can do with 30 mins of training seems bonkers to me – but not to NHS managers it seems.

        2. Nig l
          December 5, 2021

          That’s three in a row comments with nothing to do with the subject, all of which you have repeated ad nauseum. Spare us from your obsessions.

          1. Micky Taking
            December 5, 2021

            I think people are entitled to go on about mask wearing and GP jabbing, compared to hopeless government policies and almost every cost aspect of living in the UK soaring.

          2. Peter
            December 5, 2021

            Limits on number of postings, which get advertised every now and again, have clearly gone out the window.

        3. Sea_Warrior
          December 5, 2021

          Even though I have already booked a booster at a local hospital, I have been getting daily texts from my GP, referring me to a website that will direct a booking request to a ………… GP. This is turning into a ‘gold rush’ for the laziest part of the health system.

          1. Micky Taking
            December 5, 2021

            are GPs still being paid ÂŁ20 a stab?

          2. alan jutson
            December 5, 2021

            +1

          3. Zorro
            December 5, 2021

            ÂŁ30 per jab

            Zorro

        4. Iago
          December 5, 2021

          On Friday 3rd December 2021, Oliver Dowden MP, co-chairman of the Conservative Party, said that mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations are ‘not something we want to do in the UK. We won’t have to . . . as long as people get the booster’
          Disgusting beyond words. Detestable government, two years of lies, we owe them nothing.

          1. hefner
            December 5, 2021

            MT, it was ÂŁ12.58 per injection up to end of November, was increased to ÂŁ15 for Mon-Sat injection and to ÂŁ20 for a Sunday one in vaccination centres and surgeries.
            ÂŁ30 if delivered at home (Amanda Pritchard, 30/11/2021).

          2. R.Grange
            December 5, 2021

            It’s the Mafia model of running a public health policy: Do as we tell you or else…
            These people are gangsters, not ministers.

          3. Andy
            December 5, 2021

            Mandatory vaccines will almost certainly have to happen here. They have already been introduced for care home workers with NHS staff to follow shortly – that is millions of people already.

            They’ll dress it up to pretend it’s something different for PR purposes, but the effect will be mandatory vaccines.

          4. Donna
            December 5, 2021

            My next question to Dowden would have been “how long have you had these Fascist tendencies, Mr Dowden?”

          5. lifelogic
            December 5, 2021

            An appalling prospect what next compulsory kidney or blood donations perhaps?

          6. forthurst
            December 5, 2021

            Sajid Javid told parliament it was “clear to us that the vaccine in question that the company was developing would not get approval by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency here in the UK”. which he then semi-corrected to say that Valneva’s vaccine had not yet got and may not get approval.

            What Valneva have in stage 3 trials is a vaccine that is a whole de-activated Covid virus that enables the immune system to maintain long term protection thereby damaging the business models of those vaccines which the government is attempting to foist on us.

            What is of concern is the lack of scientific understanding of the Arts graduates running the government and civil service and also their tendency to distort the truth for purely political reasons.

          7. Nottingham Lad Himself
            December 5, 2021

            There’s nothing new about compulsory vaccination in the UK.

            Act like a grown up, and there will be no need for it this time..

        5. Nottingham Lad Himself
          December 5, 2021

          There have been disasters in vaccination campaigns owing to failure e.g. to prevent syringes being re-used and so spreading blood-borne viruses.

          If a doctor or nurse were slapdash in their work then they can be struck off the professional register.

          Such a bond does not exist in the case of trained volunteers or other casual workers.

          Be very careful for what you wish.

          1. Micky Taking
            December 5, 2021

            alarmist nonsense…

          2. miami.mode
            December 5, 2021

            Ohhh NLH, there are innumerable jokes about not ending a sentence with a preposition.

          3. a-tracy
            December 5, 2021

            NLH ‘vaccination campaigns owing to failure e.g. to prevent syringes being re-used’? Where in the UK has this happened I don’t believe you!

          4. Nottingham Lad Himself
            December 5, 2021

            Oh, the irony.

            Referendum on compulsory vaccination – NOW!

          5. Peter2
            December 5, 2021

            I expect you would have the same attitude as you display towards the referendum on EU membership when the vote goes against your wishes NHL

          6. Fedupsoutherner
            December 5, 2021

            Martin. A good try bit still not as funny as Andy.

          7. Nottingham Lad Himself
            December 5, 2021

            Interesting – the Italian PM has already said that there has been a de facto referendum on vaccines by the fact that over 80% have demonstrated more conclusively in favour than any vote ever could by actually having the shots.

            I think that he has a point.

            Unlike the European Union vote, however, a “no” in such a vote would still leave people able to have their shots voluntarily.

            I am unaware of any Remain supporter who has broken any law stemming from brexit, and I trust that anti-vaxxers would be just as good, democratic, law-abiding citizens if they lost a vote as described.

            I would support them, if anyone said that they should not lawfully campaign to reverse the decision too.

          8. lifelogic
            December 5, 2021

            We have had plenty of dodgy doctors too, Harold Shipman killed about 250 it seems.

          9. Peter2
            December 5, 2021

            80% of people eat meat NHL.
            So does your logic mean everyone must be forced to eat meat?

          10. Nottingham Lad Himself
            December 5, 2021

            Peter, if there were a law passed as a result of a referendum on the matter, and if meat were available to all, then people could decide whether to break that law or not, couldn’t they?

            They could also decide whether to vote for politicians weird enough to offer such a vote ever again too.

            It might be different over a vaccination drive during a pandemic though. Could even be an election winner with suitably tilted press coverage, just like the last one…

          11. Peter2
            December 6, 2021

            You seem to favour compulsory vaccination NHL
            You seem to even agree with the argument that because 80% of Italy’s people have been vaccinated then by your very strange logic hos translates to meaning that compulsory vaccination has been agreed by all.
            I dont agree with your argument at all.
            There is no connection.

          12. Nottingham Lad Himself
            December 6, 2021

            It doesn’t have to be “agreed by all”.

            Brexit wasn’t, was it?

            I’d far prefer it if there were a will amongst say, 95% of the people to get the shots, but it seems that there isn’t, only perhaps 80%.

            You seem to believe that referendums are invincible however, so why not have one on this?

          13. Peter2
            December 6, 2021

            You hit on what democracy is about NHL
            The morality of forcing peopleespecialky a minority to do things they do not want to do.

            Your position seems to be that because some people have got themselves vaccinated this can be extrapolated to a position where because they are a majority, this confirms in your mind that we, the majority, can force those in the minority to have their vaccination.
            Do you want these people to be forced from their homes and held down?
            I don’t.

        6. Sir Joe Soap
          December 5, 2021

          Well we can’t complain about GPs being useless, not there on the one hand then complain when they are taken away to do a menial job on the other. One thing we can complain about, though, is that they are expensive, and without face to face appointments, could be replaced from India online or by an App.

          Personally I’d prefer the tax money back and to pay to see one when I need to. I can’t see an issue with giving people money back through the tax system or a tax credit when they use a private GP. I also can’t see why we can’t self-refer to specialists in this country, and do away with GPs pretty wel altogether.

          1. rose
            December 5, 2021

            Reply to NLH:

            “Interesting – the Italian PM has already said that there has been a de facto referendum on vaccines by the fact that over 80% have demonstrated more conclusively in favour than any vote ever could by actually having the shots.

            I think that he has a point.”

            Neither he nor you are allowing for the fact that a lot of people had the vaccination under indirect coercion. They were worried they wouldn’t be able to go anywhere. And since when has Italy – or Austria, Germany, and France – been known for upholding people’s individual liberties?

          2. rose
            December 5, 2021

            reply to NLH:

            The Italian PM is not the product of democracy either. He is what is euphemistically termed a “technocrat”.

          3. Nottingham Lad Himself
            December 5, 2021

            You were quite happy to remove many of my liberties, and millions of others’, with your silly little vote in 2016, Rose.

            If you’re happy with that, then you should be equally so with a referendum on a compulsory vaccination drive, which just happens to remove yours not to have it.

          4. Peter2
            December 6, 2021

            I see you are switching the argument to one of a referendum now NHL
            Not content anymore with your original argument of saying if a majority in a country have had a vaccination then this means de facto they all agree in forcing everyone to be vaccinated.

          5. Nottingham Lad Himself
            December 6, 2021

            I said that the guy had a point, that doesn’t mean that it would be convincing enough to bring in a very major law.

            However, you appear to claim that the authority given by referendums is indefeasible, and so I’d suggest that if the Government wanted to impose such a law here, backed by the Will Of The People, and to absolve itself from liability for the small number of adverse reactions to the shots, then logically it should call a referendum on the matter.

            Why would that not settle it, if, as you claim it has completely settled the matter of exit from the European Union, and for a generation to boot?

          6. Peter2
            December 6, 2021

            I have not said that the result of a referendum is something that must be imposed.
            I think Parliament should very seriously respect that decision.
            Out referendum decision was eventually respected.
            I think the decision to be vaccinated should be encouraged but not imposed.

          7. Nottingham Lad Himself
            December 7, 2021

            Yes, it would be very nice if people would voluntarily take up the vaccine.

            For the disease to die out, rather than to hang around constantly mutating, that would need around 95% take up, however.

            If that could be achieved globally then it would mean an end to all the restrictions along with the threats to livelihoods which we have all had to suffer for two years.

            That is what the anti-vaxxers are preventing.

            Fortunately, most of the non-vaccinated are through apathy and laziness rather than stern opposition, and so this figure may yet be reached by means other than compulsion.

          8. Peter2
            December 8, 2021

            It will never die out.
            Because the virus mutates and the vaccine isnt really a vaccine.

        7. Bryan Harris
          December 5, 2021

          +1

          Just how incompetent is the NHS?

          A leading question … But I will be specific.

          Are the NHS ‘management’ deciding these things on their own, or are they being told to do such irrational actions by the minister in charge?
          Either way it’s an insult to people suffering because of government policies and diktats.

        8. Original Richard
          December 5, 2021

          lifelogic : “Just how incompetent is the NHS? They now want to use GPs (with all their long expensive training and experience) to drop much of their usual work do Covid booster jabs.”

          I read that GPs are now paid between ÂŁ15 and ÂŁ30 for each jab and they have been told they can give less care to patients in order to boost their Covid booster vaccine roll-outs in the face of the Omicron Covid variant.

          1. Bryan Harris
            December 5, 2021

            +1
            That is jut bribery to get the GPs to do the devil’s work

          2. rose
            December 6, 2021

            Joke on Guido comments thread:

            “Lets face it, the only way of getting rid of COVID is if it can be established it has dirt on the Clintons.”

        9. Beecee
          December 5, 2021

          None of the GP’s in the town where I live has provided a Covid vaccination service but a local pharmacy has and is providing the booster service also. GP provided services should not be depleted.

        10. Shirley M
          December 5, 2021

          Is it true that some NHS departments have been banned from broadcasting GB news in their waiting rooms? The NHS is becoming more and more political, just like the charities and trusts, and businesses are also getting into politics and telling us what we should, or should not, be doing or thinking. It’s divisive and builds resentment.

          So far as GP’s giving vaccinations, I seriously doubt that ever happens. They will have their nurses do the work for them and the practice takes the profits.

        11. a-tracy
          December 5, 2021

          Lifelogic, are you sure its not just GP surgeries rather than GP’s, we used our GP surgery for our third jab (previously sent to a hospital miles away) there was no GP in sight, the phlebotomist nurse was on hand near the waiting area should someone need nursing assistance after the jab but the people doing the jabs I’ve never seen in the surgery before, they were rapid too, jab in arm whilst standing up, no chat, fill in a form whilst queueing, very efficient.

        12. rose
          December 5, 2021

          Oxford has been the sensible university all along. Sarah Gilbert said it wasn’t necessary to boost because the vaccine was holding up well. And so the Oxford is, because the old, who have had the Oxford, aren’t catching the virus, while the young who have had the Pfizer, are. Israel keeling over early on was the first sign of this difference. The Oxford is cheap, easy to administer, safer, and holds up well. So it got done in, by the BBC mainly, but also Sky News, at the behest of the Germans, Macron, the EU, the USA, and Switzerland. It must be costing us a future and a half to administer these Pfizers, and I notice the patients have to wait for twenty minutes under the eagle eye of a nurse which wasn’t the case with the Oxford. The BBC is still puffing Pfizer again and again, interspersed with black propaganda boosters against the Oxford. What is the BBC’s relationship with Pfizer? I think we should be told.

          1. a-tracy
            December 5, 2021

            I agree Rose, I had two AZ shots, the Pfizer 3rd booster made me really ill. Three jabs in six months and now they’re saying it may not be enough. It’s ridiculous. If we catch this new variant and the 3 injections help to overcome it and make it more mild then isn’t it better for more people to get it to build their own natural immunity? The messages coming out of the medical profession and scientists right now is very suspicious. I also wonder why people given 2 Pfizer weren’t given the 3rd booster AZ?

          2. Micky Taking
            December 6, 2021

            you need to examine the ‘career and appointments’ of the leading medical people giving advice to No 10. This might be a clue as to preference of any particular Pharma and the cost of vaccinations.

          3. rose
            December 6, 2021

            Very good point, a-tracy, about the third vaccination being supposed to be different from the first two except when the first two were Pfizer. When they first started talking about our getting “the best of both worlds” through mixing the vaccines, I was reminded of the poor Ulster people. The best of both worlds ultimately means Pfizer, Pfizer, Pfizer – as in EU, EU, EU.

        13. Dennis
          December 6, 2021

          I had my booster shot 2 weeks ago but had a text today saying that as there was no indication that I had a booster shot I should ensure of getting one.
          I am just upset that this can happen in the NHS. Otherwise the NHS system is looking after me very well with my symptoms so I am very grateful. luckily I don’t need any surgery, yet anyway.

      3. Hope
        December 5, 2021

        LL,
        We have 11.5 years of evidence to prove they are a big state, high tax, high spend, global wasting following cabal. No strategy, direction, values or purpose to improve society or change it for conservative good. Family breakdown, dissent stamped out, free speech or expression being stamped out, mass immigration to change our culture and way of life, chaotic Marxist views invading all aspects of our life. Built upon built on New Labour then Milibands policies. Even Corbyn dragged them left!

        1. lifelogic
          December 5, 2021

          +1

    2. Everhopeful
      December 5, 2021

      +10000

    3. Oldtimer
      December 5, 2021

      Exactly! The tax hikes, rising inflation and constant chopping and changing of covid-related regulations will kill economic recovery in the UK in the coming year. Add to that the wasteful, misdirected aspects of so much government expenditure and economic decline looks assured.

    4. Mark B
      December 5, 2021

      ‘LL

      How else is this government going to pay for all these Social Policies and buy the next election after the mess they have created ?

    5. Peter
      December 5, 2021

      ‘He wishes to be seen as a tax cutting Finance Minister.’

      Exactly. It’s all about image. Nothing more.

    6. DavidJ
      December 5, 2021

      +1

  2. David Peddy
    December 5, 2021

    Hear, hear Sir John.
    Incoherent tax and energy policies from Sunak and BoJo

    1. lifelogic
      December 5, 2021

      An incoherent Covid policy too.

      Lockdowns will be seen as the “single biggest public health mistake” in history the Stanford University professor Jay Bhattacharya has said.

      Then again probably the gain of function lab experiments on bat viruses was.

      1. Dennis
        December 6, 2021

        Another single biggest public health mistake is not using ivermectin on first signs of covid symptoms.

    2. Ian Wragg
      December 5, 2021

      Incoherent policies from the entire liblabcon.
      Electricity grid running on the edge, illegal boat people in ever increasing numbers and net zero lunacy.
      Well done Tice, keep the faith, Farage is desperately needed.

      1. lifelogic
        December 5, 2021

        +1

      2. glen cullen
        December 5, 2021

        +1 We need Reform UK to keep the Tories in line, they’re doing a better job than the opposition Labour
        The more Tories that join Reform; the better the Conservative Party

    3. Bill B.
      December 5, 2021

      Taxes have to rise to pay for the magic money Sunak threw at the economy for over a year to try to disguise the disastrous impact of lockdowns. Those policies have to be paid for, and the only issues are when and how much. To talk of tax cuts now is flying in the face of reality.

    4. Enough Already
      December 5, 2021

      +1

    5. Hope
      December 5, 2021

      Not incoherent, economically suicidal. Everyone watching them destroy individual, commerce and national wealth handing it all manufacturing wealth to Russia and China!

      Tory MPs must stand up and get rid of Johnson and May types, or publicly accept responsibility for forcing everyone and our nation into poverty. Not levelling up levelling down. We read Gove’s latest wheeze, have regional governors! Mayors are an expensive taxpayers’ waste against public wishes, now another layer!!

      1. anon
        December 5, 2021

        Complying with EU regional policy!
        I smell a ‘Brino’ Brexiteer in name only.

        Not in your manifesto. Not wanted by the English. Maybe perhaps we require devolution to rid us of the anti-english establishment.

  3. Everhopeful
    December 5, 2021

    I suppose that having got away with scam after scam our dear govt. truly believes itself to be unassailable.
    They can say just about anything and imagine ( having consulted ooky polls) that they are believed.
    Well I am afraid that most of us can now see the skull beneath the skin.
    It ain’t pretty and it crawleth with worms.

    1. Shirley M
      December 5, 2021

      Agreed. That any politicians would deliberately lie to the electorate is astonishing and very worrying. The only reason they ‘get away with it’ is because most of the rest are just as bad. FGS, we need honest politicians who actually put the country first, and don’t just ‘say’ they will put the country first.

      I fear 40+ years of sitting back and letting the EU make the decisions has dumbed down the majority of our politicians to office junior level! The politicians themselves may think this acceptable, but I doubt anyone else does. Maybe we need some sort of IQ and logic test before they are allowed to stand for election? It seems to me they never consider the long term consequences of their decisions. Those politicians that do have brains and logic need to convince us they will use those qualities for the good of the country, and not for the good of their (and their pals) own pocket.

      1. Mark B
        December 5, 2021

        Shirley M

        They are not so much stupid, more lazy and career focused.

      2. alan jutson
        December 5, 2021

        The problem Shirley is many aspiring politicians, and those serving, rarely give their real opinions and feelings to the voters.
        Look how different ex politicians look and talk about a whole range of subjects and topics, when they do not have to be loyal to the Party machine, and can speak openly and freely with their own views.

        Interesting to listen to Michael Portillo and Ed Balls now, just to name but two.

      3. Everhopeful
        December 5, 2021

        +1

      4. Nottingham Lad Himself
        December 6, 2021

        For goodness’ sake, Shirley, if they hadn’t done that year after year then we would still be in the European Union.

  4. Everhopeful
    December 5, 2021

    Really.
    What can one say?
    Whatever financial crisis we have has been caused by governments and made a great deal worse by their ludicrous “covid response”.
    Cui bono? They behave like street corner pushers or snake oil salesmen as does the EU.
    And now WE are expected to pay for their sins?
    O yer bike! Nothing to do with me guv.
    You broke it. You own it!

  5. Sea_Warrior
    December 5, 2021

    On Sunak’s watch, under BBLS, tens of billions of pounds was lent to businesses without even the most basic of security precautions being taken. Much of the money – billions of it – went to crooks. He must now do more to recover the mis-placed dosh. Until he does, I will have no confidence in him.
    P.S. Sir John, we need an early debate, here, on yesterday’s unwelcome, return of pre-departure COVID testing.

  6. Richard1
    December 5, 2021

    Lord Frost is surely right that with these kind of policies Brexit is not going to have a chance to succeed. The best that can be said is that project fear was nonsense. But it’s going to be very hard to point to anything positive.

    The likelihood that even a Conservative govt with a large majority wouldn’t actually move away from the European high tax, high intervention statist economic model was the main reason to vote remain, and therefore Brexit would mean disruption for little benefit. It’s turned out to be correct.

    The only reason to turn out to vote Conservative these days is Labour would be slightly worse.

    1. Micky Taking
      December 5, 2021

      ‘would be slightly worse’ a wild unsubstantiated accusation.
      How big is slightly?

      1. formuala57
        December 5, 2021

        “How big is slightly?” – not by so much that anyone would notice.

    2. lifelogic
      December 5, 2021

      True but Labour/SNP/Plaid/Green might be rather more than ‘slightly’ worse. Even though this government is wrong on almost everything & generally socialist & appalling.

      1. X-Tory
        December 5, 2021

        No, I think you are mistaken. Labour would NOT be any worse than the current government. On taxes, for instance (Sir John’s issue du jour) Starmer actually OPPOSED the increase in corporation tax, and has made no suggestion whatever that he wants to increase personal taxes. As for all the other issues – green madness, uncontrolled immigration, etc – how could he be any worse? And as for the EU, Starmer has said he has no intention of trying to reverse the very limited form of Brexit we have now, so even there he is no worse than Boris the Traitor and his subservience to the EU. That is why we no longer need to ‘vote Conservative to keep Labour out’, and can vote Reform UK with a light heart.

        1. rose
          December 5, 2021

          Starmer said on the EU that he respects Brexit, but that the arrangements would have to change. That means he can justify taking us back into the SM, the CU, and under the ECJ – just for starters. He hasn’t changed. Anyone who was prepared to collude with a foreign power over several years to overthrow our democracy is not fit for office. Plenty of people understand that.

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            December 5, 2021

            The voters will be the judge of that, Rose.

            Or do you not accept democracy?

      2. Richard1
        December 5, 2021

        Yes fair enough. That’s what will keep the Tories in office I suppose. Quite a wasted opportunity as it looks now.

      3. The PrangWizard of England
        December 5, 2021

        I oppose socialism but the Tories are so despicable in so many respects, and Sir John agrees most of their policies are unacceptable to him, it seems to me that we should vote Labour. I would say they would not be any worse and may do better. In any case getting rid of these appalling Tories led by such a ‘clown’ is worth taking chances.

  7. Nig l
    December 5, 2021

    As I said yesterday cynical rubbish panicking with another by election coming up. No doubt written/suggested by the ‘children’ that form his support team.

    And in a similar briefing we see the Star Chamber mentioned today, set up to ensure we get value for money. What a shame it is hundreds of billions too late as almost daily we see another scheme poorly thought through etc pour our money down the drain.

    It is utter boleaux and in your words Sir JR. ‘We don’t believe you’

    How can any government have any credibility when two days ago Shapps says no plans for returning PCR tests and then a day later they are panicked introduced. And why if I take one abroad., do I need another one three days later in the U.K. utter, utter rubbish.

    1. lifelogic
      December 5, 2021

      +1

    2. Donna
      December 5, 2021

      The first thing the Star Chamber should do is recommend the scrapping of the HS2 White Elephant.
      But it won’t …… so it’s a pointless exercise in trying to fool all the people all the time.

  8. formula57
    December 5, 2021

    “Everything points to the need for him to act as they brief, to become the tax cutting Chancellor.” – agreed. And a further pointer is the Bank (along with the Federal Reserve) likely will do its best not to raise interest rates at all.

    (O/T – Amazon’s tiff with Visa (now Evil Empire foolish price controls no longer apply) saw it gift me a credit that I applied to purchase “Build Back Green”. Once again, Brexit delivers in unexpected ways! 🙂 )

  9. SM
    December 5, 2021

    Your rare display of outright anger is fully justified, Sir John.

  10. DOM
    December 5, 2021

    Most on here know what the problem is. We know the solution. It’s become a tiresome charade of tiptoeing around issues that the party in government simply do not want to confront for fear of being harmed by a more powerful foe

  11. Sharon
    December 5, 2021

    I have read more and more articles, some current, some three or four years old, written by people interested in global financial affairs. I’m afraid what we are seeing is a deliberate destruction of finances as we know them. And one article I read yesterday, written in 2017, shows (I was going to list the names, but JR, you don’t like name calling) so I’ll just say, a recent Bank of England governor, a previous chancellor and several well known high street banks, and retailers are all on board. The one good thing is that the plan is behind its 2020 schedule of digital currency being introduced.

    Reply If you name someone there needs to be proof they wrote it etc

  12. Oldtimer
    December 5, 2021

    I doubt that this crude attempt at news manipulation will fool many people. It will be long forgotten when the government’s mismanagement of the UK hits everyone’s wallet.

  13. Donna
    December 5, 2021

    He isn’t a tax cutting Chancellor; there is nothing principled about anyone in this appalling Government.. He is, however, a Chancellor who intends to use taxes to bribe voters at the next election.

    I predict that at the pre-election budget Sunak will “offer” the voters a tax cut – might be a VAT cut – but it will only be implemented after the General Election has been held and therefore providing people vote CONservative.

    It can be summed up as “if you are good little children and do as you’re told you can have a little temporary reward” (which we’ll remove in other ways, when it suits us).

    1. Micky Taking
      December 5, 2021

      got it in one…well said.

    2. hefner
      December 5, 2021

      D, Isn’t it what happens at every election?

      O/T: In today’s Observer, an article by David Davis ‘Priti Patel’s plan to offshore refugees is costly, wrong and doomed to fail’.

      1. Shirley M
        December 5, 2021

        Allowing illegal immigrants to stay in the UK is costly, wrong and doomed to fail. They should be deported immediately and never allowed to apply for asylum in the UK. We should not even consider allowing queue jumpers or people who arrive without documentation to enter our country, never mind have permanent residence (even when their asylum claim fails).

        1. Andy
          December 5, 2021

          Illegal immigrants aren’t allowed to stay because they are illegal.

          Seeking asylum is not illegal. Arriving by dinghy to claim asylum is not illegal. The law accepts asylum seekers may not have documentation with them precisely because they are asylum seekers. They are not going on a Saga holiday.

          1. No Longer Anonymous
            December 5, 2021

            Andy For God’s sakes.

            I have shown you the Government link which tells illegals that they can stay with taxpayer support even when they have been proven to be illegal by a court.

            Why do you persist in this nonsense ?

          2. Micky Taking
            December 6, 2021

            But they are ALL staying and in comfort Andy.

        2. hefner
          December 5, 2021

          How would you know who has been an illegal immigrant in a country where no ID is expected in normal life, not even for voting, where a bank account can be opened with just a utility bill that can easily obtained once one has been lodged by ‘friends’ for a couple of months?

          Somewhat related: As for even thinking that Ascension Island could be an overseas processing centre a la Nauru and Manus, how both the MOD and US DOD would accept such a centre in a place known as a satellite (and missile testing) tracking station. Is Ms Patel unaware of what the main purpose of the multiple installations on this particular island is?

          1. Peter2
            December 5, 2021

            I hope you and Andy are inviting some of these new arrivals into your homes this festive season.

          2. rose
            December 5, 2021

            “How would you know who has been an illegal immigrant in a country where no ID is expected in normal life, not even for voting, where a bank account can be opened with just a utility bill that can easily obtained once one has been lodged by ‘friends’ for a couple of months?”

            You describe just one of the pull factors which enrage the French.

        3. Diane
          December 5, 2021

          Irish Government proposes allowing illegal migrants to be able to stay permanently, amnesty by any other name. Government estimates 17.000. Migrant Rights Centre Ireland, a state funded NGO previously estimated much higher numbers, around 20.000 to 26.000 as long ago as 2015. May be of concern for some here I would have thought. ( Reported on Breitbart 05/12/21 )

          1. hefner
            December 5, 2021

            P2, what has your comment to do with mine? The conversation started with me quoting David Davis, which to me at least has a point. Have you asked DD whether he’ll be ‘inviting some of these new arrivals into his home this festive season’?

          2. rose
            December 5, 2021

            Can you see the boat rockers allowing us to repeal the CTA arrangement?

          3. anon
            December 5, 2021

            Backdoor route into the UK via the common travel area. This is obviously a backroom deal going on.

            We need to end the Common Travel Area and replace it with visa’s.

          4. Peter2
            December 5, 2021

            Surprised you can’t figure it out hef.
            You seem (with your pal andy) to want no restrictions on illegal immigration.
            Therefore it is only fair that you help these poor people find shelter this festive period.

        4. rose
          December 5, 2021

          And Davis doesn’t seem to understand that if he sets up places abroad for illegal immigrants to apply for refugee status, they won’t use them. They will still come across the Channel to make it an instant fait accompli as they are now, knowing they won’t be sent away.

          Naive, or what? I expected no better of Mitchell. Why can’t the Conservative Party unite and sort the problem out by freeing us from the outdated laws and treaties? Why do these vain old men have to rock the boat? It was the same with Foreign Aid and the Internal Market Bill.

      2. X-Tory
        December 5, 2021

        I don’t know why but David Davis has always been very pro-immigration. On offshoring asylum ssekers he is wrong as this could be very cheap – if we select an African country, put the claimants in tents in a field, and pay for the whole thing out of the existing overseas aid budget. But I would agree that this is just a ‘half-way house’ tactic and not the best solution as it still gives migrants the hope their asylum claim might be accepted and they will be allowed to come to the UK.

        The only way to stop the invasion we are experiencing is to say that Britain is FULL, that we believe that all those coming here through Europe and then claiming asylum are BOGUS and that therefore NOBODY will be granted asylum, ILR or ELR. Having made that clear we should then deport ALL those coming here back to their home countries (Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, etc). When they realise that coming to the UK will get them sent back to square one they will immediately stop coming here and the whole problem will be over. This is the only solution.

        1. hefner
          December 5, 2021

          X-Tory, thanks for your comment.

    3. anon
      December 5, 2021

      We know manifesto promises are worthless and are not meant to be taken seriously.
      It follows anything a government says is worthless and should not be taken seriously.

      One should of course follow the inaction and acts of omission that follow such promises and draw your own conclusions.

      Ask any lawyer or a Supreme court to get involved and you will draw a blank. Unless of course it is to thwart something the people specifically and directly voted for.

  14. Sir Joe Soap
    December 5, 2021

    Wow.
    11 years on from this garbage hitting us, you’re finally getting angry!
    Starting to understand, I hope, while we’ve been referring to LibLabCon for so long.
    You can’t fool this ex-Tory again. Mr Tice step forward.

    1. Bryan Harris
      December 5, 2021

      +1

  15. Sharon
    December 5, 2021

    Looking elsewhere this morning and thinking back to GB News last night.
    The green crap, the Covid measures, the financial measures all are being discussed more and more.

    People are talking about, questioning, challenging the logic or lack of; professional bodies are writing to professional bodies or government department to question the ethics of some measures; protest marches have happened but not been publicised (unless there is a bit of an affray); back bench ministers are speaking out, writing articles, questioning, challenging 
. but still the steam roller of the authoritarian behaviour of government continues.

    What can we do to stop this runaway government (and the blob) from continuing on this dangerous trajectory? Nothing seems to make much difference.

    Having said that, I think perhaps all this has made some difference because we are in a better place than most of Europe. But we’re not out of the woods yet, by a long stretch!

    1. Bryan Harris
      December 5, 2021

      +1
      Indeed – and it will take a miracle for us not to have to follow the rest of the world

  16. alan jutson
    December 5, 2021

    Not much to add to your post today JR you have said it all.
    We just need to remember who put Sunak in position, and why !

    1. lifelogic
      December 5, 2021

      Javid was just as bad as Sunak. Hammond, Osborne, Darling and Brown were all appalling chancellors.

      1. alan jutson
        December 5, 2021

        Lifelogic

        Agreed but at least they had their own ideas, perhaps curtailed by the then Prime Minister to a degree.
        Now it would appear it’s the other way around, with a Chancellor having to curb the Prime Minsters thoughts and suggestions.

  17. Brian Tomkinson
    December 5, 2021

    There have been few good governments in my lifetime but this one stands out as the worst. The very fabric of our society is being dismantled and destroyed. Those in government are mere puppets of the world puppet masters but, along with others, are prepared to betray with enthusiasm the people they were elected to represent.

    1. Bryan Harris
      December 5, 2021

      +1

    2. Shirley M
      December 5, 2021

      +1

  18. Dave Andrews
    December 5, 2021

    Good for the people of Wokingham they have a true Conservative as their MP. Most of us have to put up with a stooge for the Fifth Column that’s infected the establishment. Ultimately you have to blame the electorate.
    When will people wake up to the deceit of candidates promising what they will spend money on? That money means more taxes.

    1. lifelogic
      December 5, 2021

      +1. Javid as health Sec. is endlessly boasting about how much he is is spending on his NHS (just respect it you plebs) alas he is always spending it appallingly inefficiently.

    2. Mark B
      December 5, 2021

      +1

  19. Bryan Harris
    December 5, 2021

    Why does he need officials to tell him? Surely an intelligent Conservative Chancellor should have his own tax cutting priorities?

    That’s probably a little hard on a chancellor who was so recently elevated to high office, having had no real experience of life, except in a privileged setting. Like so many of his ministerial colleagues, he just simply doesn’t understand how many people have to struggle in life, never mind the barrage of ‘social’ regulations and tax increases they have to deal with, never mind the greed with which councils now fine people with for arbitrary activities.

    Seriously – our host has indicated the things needed to be done to rescue the reputation of the man holding the purse strings. The tax increases are going to make life a lot worse for those without a very nice income!

    1. Lester_Cynic
      December 5, 2021

      BH

      + a million!

  20. ukretired123
    December 5, 2021

    Sir John you are such a rare and valuable MP worth your weight in gold for your valuable hard earned proven (as Scots used to say with emphasis) real world feet on the ground experience. It is just pitiful that the sheep around us do not see your key logic but play bumble along sleep-walking into trouble instead. Unbelievable adults cannot understand the concept of financial incentives produce productivity. Shallow thinking like driftwood in a sea of troubles of their own making.

    1. SM
      December 5, 2021

      +10

  21. William Long
    December 5, 2021

    This is typical of the muddle that pervades every aspect of this Government, and it is by now quite clear that Mr Sunak has no mind of his own: by his own admission he sees himself as ‘The Finance Director’ whose function is to enable the requirements of the Chairman. So, did Chairman Boris put him up to this?

    1. Michael McGrath
      December 5, 2021

      I think you will find that the Treasury Mandarins fingerprints are all over mr Sunak’s utterances.

      I am reminded of the success enjoyed by Michael Gove in Education, much resented and briefed aginst by his civil servants, since he avoided their control by using a private email address

  22. Mark B
    December 5, 2021

    Good morning

    Someone briefed the press that the Chancellor has asked officials to give him options to cut taxes in 2023 and 2024

    That someone can only have come from Number 11 Downing Street. I mean, cui bono.

    The rises are made so that they can be reduced and so perpetuate the myth that is being created.

    Sheer naked electioneering.

  23. a-tracy
    December 5, 2021

    John, how many conservative MPs in the House of Commons along side you agree with what you are saying do you believe? 10%, 50% more?

    These rises to NI breaking manifesto promises are not conservative, if the taxes are coming in this year better than expected and continue to do so Sunak should overturn this due to better than expected results and then spend his time sorting out his wasteful company covid loans to charlatans, the directors that claimed the money should be traceable and the loans attached to them like student loans for the future on any other business trading they have.

  24. Peter from Leeds
    December 5, 2021

    As I have said before it is an ill wind… At least the current variant wobbles are causing the BoE to think again about a rate rise which is helping to keep the pound low, thus helping exporters and encouraging consumers to buy local products.

  25. glen cullen
    December 5, 2021

    Boris manifesto pledge and guarantee 2019 –
    7. No raise the rate of income tax, VAT or National Insurance.
    ”We don’t believe you”

  26. No Longer Anonymous
    December 5, 2021

    Traces of cocaine found near the highest office… good. Explains a lot.

    Keep the bad news rolling. Lockdown Christmas and destroyed pubs and restaurants too, please. *

    I have given up on this government.

    It’s about time the people got angry with it.

    * I never wanted lockdown to happen but two years later and three jabs on and we’re still facing “will Christmas be saved ?”

    WTF ?

    Why is Christmas at risk in the first place ???

    1. Mike Wilson
      December 5, 2021

      Why is Christmas at risk in the first place ???

      Because they cancelled it last year and we all complies like whipped dogs.

    2. Tyler
      December 5, 2021

      Many people have seen through all of the Covid nonsense. I suspect any proposed mandatory vaccination will bring things to a swift conclusion. A few hundred idiot politicians, with media collusion, are destroying the UK.

      1. Philip P.
        December 5, 2021

        The aim of mandatory vaccination would be to split society, openly and shamelessly, setting people against each other according to the age-old tactic of divide and rule. This is already happening on the European continent. Whether that would ‘bring things to a swift conclusion’, Tyler, I’m not so sure. It could be a very long and a very unpleasant experience indeed. Totalitarian episodes in recent European history have not always been brief.

        1. Tyler
          December 5, 2021

          We don’t share the European experience of tolerating totalitarianism and won’t put up with it. There would be unprecedented civil disobedience and violent incidents. The politicised police force will run.

  27. Original Richard
    December 5, 2021

    To go with tax cuts the Government should be cutting back on expenditure.

    Not just useless legacy projects such as HS2 but on the cancerous growth of the public sector including quangos and NHS administrative staff.

    We never read of any civil servant or quango employees or NHS admin staff being sacked for incompetence, malfeasance, corruption, misbehaviour, indolence or truculence.

    Whether it’s health or the climate or the economy or even security (police and military) the Government doesn’t follow the science anymore but instead the directions from its psychology and behavioural compliance advisers.

  28. X-Tory
    December 5, 2021

    What can I say except … I completely agree! Obviously the amount any chancellor can cut in taxes is limited, so I would suggest that tactically and politically in terms of personal taxes the best option would be to raise the threshold for paying tax to ÂŁ20,000. Everyone would benefit, but ‘blue-collar’ Conservativs would appreciate this most – and they are the ones the party needs to target. It would also spike Labour’s guns as they could neither criticise the cut nor trump it (without being transparently dishonest). Another advantage of doing this is that, by increasing the incomes of the lowest paid, it means that savings can then be made in benefits (making this the less costly option for the Treasury)!

    As for businesses, yes, the rate of corporation tax needs to be reduced to the new global 15% floor. The government could paraphrase the famous John Lewis pledge (‘Never Knowingly Undersold’) and say that the UK will be ‘never knowingly undertaxed’ by any other country!

  29. Your comment is awaiting moderation
    December 5, 2021

    It’s not about raising revenue anymore, it’s about levelling down. Marxism has wormed it’s way throughout every level of society and now even the Tories are infected. It doesn’t bode well for future generations unless people wake up to what’s happening and change their voting habits which is a tall ask when we see how the likes of the BBC continuously use Marxist subversion techniques to create disharmony within the population.

  30. Original Richard
    December 5, 2021

    “Why plant such a story?”

    This story has no doubt been designed by the Government’s psychology and behavioural compliance advisers.

    It is doublethink/talk to confuse the electorate and make those who want tax cuts to think he is on their side and by his actions those who do not.

    At the same time such stories are designed to test the waters/gauge public opinion to see how far the Government can push its agenda without actually committing itself.

    Hence the reason why no civil servant is ever reprimanded or punished for leaking such stories.

  31. Andy
    December 5, 2021

    A primary reason why we need tax rises is to pay for the economically disastrous Tory pensioner Brexit.

    The huge – and entirely predictable – hit to the economy needs to be paid for by someone. And the Brexitists want it to be everyone else that pays.

    They are too selfish to pay for their miserable failed project themselves.

    1. Peter2
      December 5, 2021

      So not Covid and lockdown just Brexit.
      Hilarious Andy.

    2. oldwulf
      December 5, 2021

      @Andy
      It is very likely that pensioners (including Tory pensioners) are nearer to death than the younger members of the population. Therefore, whether they like it or not, those pensioners have had (and will have) their wealth passed down by way of tax and inheritances. Also, their pensions will no longer be a cost to society.

      So, when you say – “The huge – and entirely predictable – hit to the economy needs to be paid for by someone.” .. it seems to me that the deceased pensioners have done their bit and the living pensioners will soon contribute. I hope this makes you feel better.

    3. beresford
      December 5, 2021

      Not to mention taxi service, housing, court costs and spending money for Andy’s dinghy people. It all has to be paid for somehow.

    4. Fedupsoutherner
      December 5, 2021

      Andy. I’m not quite sure where the younger voters for Brexit fit in. Can you clarify?

  32. Donna
    December 5, 2021

    It’s sickening that Johnson is calling for an enquiry into the appalling murder of poor Arthur Labinjo-Hughes to understand what went wrong and why.

    Lockdown is what went wrong. If Arthur had been going to school or he had had normal contact with his wider family members there is every chance that he would still be alive.

    How many more “Arthurs” have suffered violence and abuse as a direct consequence of the Lockdowns which SAGE and Johnson imposed, with the approval of most MPs?

    1. Enigma
      December 5, 2021

      Totally agree with you Donna you’ve hit the nail on the head.

  33. Enough Already
    December 5, 2021

    I thought Sunak was making some kind of doublespeak joke when he said he was a tax-cutting chancellor whilst pushing the UK tax burden up to a 70-year high.

  34. Lindsay McDougall
    December 5, 2021

    In his October statement, the Chancellor spent little time on macro-economics, instead producing a long list of public expenditure items, tax rises and some tax cuts. The OBR was not so coy and you can find its “Executive Summary Economic and social outlook October 2021” as a pdf file on the Internet. A few key figures are shown below.

    Borrowing: ÂŁ320 billion in 2020-2021 (outturn)
    ÂŁ183 billion in 2021-2022 (forecast)
    ÂŁ83 billion in 2022-2023 (forecast)
    ÂŁ62 billion in 2023-2024 (forecast)
    Pubic spending: Will stabilise at 42% of GDP
    Of which health and welfare:
    12.4% in 1978-1979
    19.0% in 2024-2025
    Public sector debt: Just below 100% of GDP until 2024

    Conclusions
    Public expenditure at 42% of GDP is far too high, especially for a Tory Government.
    Health and welfare expenditure is out of control.
    Borrowing is forecast to fall drastically in two successive years, which is only achieveable with two years of high GDP growth, the first due to bounceback, the second inflationary.
    I don’t believe such revenue growth is achieveable, so borrowing will fall less slowly.
    “If you’re spending too much, spend less”, with the focus on health and welfare.

    Some suggestions:
    Cap Universal Credit at ÂŁ15000 per annum, not ÂŁ20000 per annum.
    Chase absentee fathers to make a financial contribution, as in Scandanavia.
    Anyone on the minimum wage pays no income tax at all.
    Raise the standard rate of income tax if – and only if – nobody pays more income tax in total than before.
    Put social care under the control of local authorities (not the failed NHS monopoly) and make sure they can fund it through a combination of charges and Council Tax.
    Reduce the number of tiers of Government from five to two.
    Don’t pay any more money to the hostile and bloody minded French and European Commission.

    1. Mike Wilson
      December 6, 2021

      Council tax is quite high enough as it is, thanks. It is not a progressive tax – everyone has to pay the same amount regardless of their ability to pay. It hits pensioners who only have the state pension for income very hard. Why can’t they control their spending? 5% every year means that, sooner or later, council tax will take everyone’s state pension. You might as well, at that point, stop the state pension and just give it the councils to waste.

  35. Roy Grainger
    December 5, 2021

    “Why plant such a story ?”. Because he wants to persuade MPs and party members like you that he really is a tax cutter and has only been forced into rises by Boris, so you can all vote for him as party leader the next time there is a vacancy.

  36. glen cullen
    December 5, 2021

    I was at a ‘car & coffee’ meet today and everyman man and his dog was taking about the inefficient drop in mpg due to the new e10 fuel and marked increase in fuel price & the governments increased VAT take

    1. Original Richard
      December 5, 2021

      glen cullen :

      Not only does the Government take more tax by debasing the e10 fuel its psychology and behavioural compliance advisers have pointed out that the e10 fuel will, by reducing the life of ices, by reducing the range comparisons with bevs, help to push consumers towards abandoning ices for bevs.

    2. alan jutson
      December 5, 2021

      Agree Glen, they have diluted the petrol but not the tax, my big V6 petrol engine now does 15% less miles per gallon than previously.
      Fortunately the manufacturer says it will not do it any harm (as was being suggested by some government information sites), being of advanced design for a year 2000 model.
      I plan to try out the higher octane stuff to see if that makes any difference to fuel economy.

  37. rose
    December 5, 2021

    I can’t explain the leak but I still think he’s being held hostage by those 10,000 permanent remainiac officials in the Treasury. If you had been Chancellor, the leaks would have been all against you, but you would have taken no notice other than to tell yourself: “if they are briefing against me then I am probably on the right lines.”

    1. DavidJ
      December 5, 2021

      Indeed rose.

  38. rose
    December 5, 2021

    On your repeated question about practical arrangements for better ventilation in hospitals and schools, I keep thinking they would probably rather spend the money on appointments of highly paid diversity monitors.

  39. DavidJ
    December 5, 2021

    Increase taxation, restrict our freedoms, destroy our industry with “green” policies. This is definitely not a “Conservative” government that I would wish to see re-elected.

  40. Malcolm White
    December 6, 2021

    Dear Sir John,

    Why is it that you, along with a relatively few other Conservatives, have a grasp of the blindingly obvious, when many others – especially around the Cabinet table – don’t seem to have a clue?

    Everyone should, of course, have an opinion and a point of view, but when these are 180 degrees out of touch with reality you have to wonder whose agenda they’re following. It clearly isn’t that of the common man.

    Everywhere we look; the handling of Covid and the NHS, the Northern Irish Protocol, fishing, the totally impractical and unworkable Net Zero agenda, the banning of petrol and diesel cars, green jobs exported to China, the nuclear program, banning further oil and gas exploration and fracking, etc. The list of failures and potential failures is endless.

    The only bright moment – before the lights go out this winter – was the rapid development of the Covid-19 vaccine, but they’re now doing their best to screw that up by flirting with vaccine passports in England and mandatory vaccinations for the general populace.

    When is this madness going to end? Normally, one would enforce change at a general election, but there’s even less of an appreciation of reality from the opposition benches. Do we really have to find ourselves deep in the brown and smelly stuff before Government wakes up to it?

  41. Mike Wilson
    December 6, 2021

    Off topic – I have often read comments on here by people who sound, to be honest, as if they are a bit nuts. They think everything the government is doing is part of an agenda to remove our freedoms etc.

    And then you hear about the powers being taken to prevent protests and …

    Boris Johnson is planning to let ministers throw out legal rulings they disagree with, according to a report which has increased fears that the government is determined to weaken judicial scrutiny after a series of defeats in court.

    An ally of the prime minister told the Times that the judicial review and courts bill going through parliament “doesn’t go far enough” for the prime minister, who is considering an option, drawn up by the lord chancellor, Dominic Raab, and the attorney general, Suella Braverman, which would enable it to strike out findings from judicial reviews with which the government does not agree.

    The quote above is from the Guardian.

    And you read that the government thinks it is okay to confiscate driving licences and passports from people who take drugs and you find yourself thinking ‘the people who sound a bit mad on here are right!’.

    I always feared and expected that the sort of actions this Conservative goverment is taking would be taken by a Labour goverment with a big majority and a stranglehold on power. Yet it is your government, Mr. Redwood, that is doing this.

    Can one assume you disassociate yourself from this big state nonsense?

  42. Pauline Baxter
    December 6, 2021

    I hope Sir John, that you say these things direct to the Chancellor.

  43. Alison
    December 7, 2021

    Sunak’s furlough monies supported those likeliest to vote Tory. Many of those with small, enterprising businesses were hung out to dry. And then he introduces national insurance increases, cosmetically presented to sound lower than they actually are, and raises corporation tax. Friends and relatives who have seen their livelihoods disappear in just 12-18 months, who used to vote Tory, will never vote Tory again.

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