2022 message

In 2022 the government needs to put the pandemic behind it. It needs to return to its Manifesto promises of lower taxes, the successful implementation of Brexit and prosperity for the many through levelling up. Indeed, the three go together and are mutually reinforcing.

Lower tax rates on earning and venturing are essential to success. The Chancellor needs to sweep away the Maastricht austerity rules that we had to follow in the EU and which he has allowed back in using  slightly different language. He needs to grasp that the way to get the deficit down and control the debts is to promote faster growth with the help of lower tax rates. Set the UK corporation tax rate at the new world base of 15% and the investment and activity will flood in as it has to Ireland with a lower rate than ours. Set the tax on jobs,  National Insurance,  at a lower rate to stimulate employment. Cancel the new features of IR 35 which  penalise or prevent people working for themselves.

Now out of the EU the Chancellor should revise VAT to tailor it to UK policy aims. He should abolish VAT on boiler controls, draught excluder, insulation materials and other green products, The government is trying to encourage people to improve energy efficiency and change their ways of heating homes, so they should not be taxed for doing so. He should remove VAT from domestic fuel for the time being to assist with reducing the cost of living pressures.

The government should take action to restore full GB/Northern Ireland trade, as the Protocol allows. They may need to legislate in the UK to instruct our customs and excise officials to allow free passage of goods from GB to NI where those goods have a clear end customer and destination in the UK. The UK is losing a lot of business and therefore tax revenue from the deliberate diversion of trade to the Republic against the express letter of the Protocol. If we had been doing this the EU and its supporters would be accusing us of “breaking the law!.

The government should make more rapid progress to restore our fishing grounds to UK vessels . They should ban over 100 metre industrial trawlers that are doing too much damage to stocks and the marine environment.

The government should take stronger action, including legislation,  to break the businesses of people traffickers and smugglers across the Channel. The UK is spending far too much on rescuing and housing in hotels people who are  not genuine asylum seekers.

The government should set out a new subsidy scheme for UK farming which encourages more UK food production, The CAP did a lot of damage to UK agriculture., We need a system which is much more supportive.

The UK government should repeal the EU ports legislation and substitute UK rules that promote thriving ports. They need to be faster and more adventurous with the freedoms for Freeports.

The UK should legislate for its own data, intellectual property and innovation  regimes . This is an innovative and enterprising country where some EU rules hold us back.

The government’s levelling up agenda is crucial. It is not going to be  achieved by a few more trams, better town halls and some extra powers for local and devolved government. It will be achieved by government backing people’s personal journeys, removing some of the impediments to success. Excellence in education, more freedom in training, lower taxes on small business, more help with owning a home and a business are what is needed.

249 Comments

  1. Mark B
    January 1, 2022

    Good morning.

    I would like to wish both our kind host and all those here that both contribute and read here a very happy new year.

    Set the UK corporation tax rate at the new world base of 15% and the investment and activity will flood in as it has to Ireland with a lower rate than ours.

    I believe I was the first to advocate this but I have since changed my mind, albeit slightly. I am now of the view that it would be better to remove Employers National Insurance Contributions altogether and so alleviate employers of unnecessary admin and boost their income. Some reductions to Corporation Tax may can still be made but my original idea was for corporations that earn over a certain amount.

    I would also like the government to allow as a tax free benefit health insurance. This would help to clear the backlog without the government having to waste more money.

    Alas, like our kind host, I’d very much doubt any ideas from this Diary will be much heeded. And we continue in the same vain. So be it. That hole the government is digging itself will eventually become too deep for it to climb out of.

    Good luck all.

    1. Timaction
      January 1, 2022

      I think this blog should be retitled……….The Government should……………. BUT WON’T. It isn’t listening. It has a few agenda items and none of them are about reform. Public services and quangos need sorting out. 11.5 years and nothing has been done to stop wokism and political correctness in Bliars health, public services and quangos. All run by left wing Pc/wokist types as the recruitment and selection processes have remained the same. All employees in these organisations have been stopped from speaking out and the emperor’s clothes removed. Everyone else knows it why doesn’t your Government? Because they agree with it and are Consocialists. They are only interested in their green costly religion, anti English, high tax and waste, minority issues. Who’s looking after the English interests in Westminster? NO ONE!

      1. Ian Wragg
        January 1, 2022

        Correct. Nothing will be done until we get a proper Tory government and escape the clutches of Carrie Antoinette.
        We are being deliberately impoverished to get to some unachievable nirvana of net zero.
        The rest of the world watches bemused.

        1. rick hamilton
          January 2, 2022

          Carrie Antoinette ! “Let them eat kale”.

      2. Peter
        January 1, 2022

        Timaction,
        Agreed. It is a wish list.

        Most responses so far seem to think the government will not change course any time soon.

      3. Sharon
        January 1, 2022

        Timeaction
        Agreed!

        As a financial chap in GB News said a few days ago, “nothing in government happens by accident!”

        In other words, all we are seeing is because that what the government wants to do.

      4. glen cullen
        January 1, 2022

        Oh they are listening alright but we’re in the third stage of government
        Stage one – democratic…the voters views mean everything, we serve them
        Stage two – laissez-faire …the voters views okay, we serve everybody
        Stage three – command …the voters views irrelevant, they serve us

      5. X-Tory
        January 1, 2022

        “I think this blog should be retitled……….The Government should……………. BUT WON’T”. I completely agree.

        Sir John publishes sensible proposals every day but we all know that the government will NEVER do these things. Boris doesn’t listen, because he doesn’t care. After all, if he did care he would have done all these things already. He has been PM for two years now, with a large majority, able to impose any changes he wants. So you’d have to be pretty stupid to believe that he is now suddenly going to change. Why would he? The weak and cowardly Tory backbenchers are doing NOTHING to force his hand, so he is content to just drift along, doing as little as possible. He is a liar, a coward and a traitor. Until he is ousted nothing will change.

    2. David Peddy
      January 1, 2022

      vein

    3. Narrow Shoulders
      January 1, 2022

      There is no admin in applying ERS – it is done automatically by software. It is just another column to tally.

      You might better claim that there would be a power and printer toner saving through not having to print the item on payslips and reports. After all it is all about the eco-credentials these days.

    4. jerry
      January 1, 2022

      @Mark B; “so alleviate employers of unnecessary admin and boost their income.”

      Surely all but the smallest employer uses automated systems for such tasks? If admin is a real problem why stop at employer NI, scrap UBR, scrap PAYE, scrap commercial vehicle operator licenses etc…

      Why pick on NI, might it be a prelude to full NHS privatization, after all is that not the reason why many call for the scrapping of the TVL fee, doing so would force privatization of the BBC?

      1. Your comment is awaiting moderation
        January 1, 2022

        …many call for the scrapping of the TVL feeThe BBC has tax is an anachronism which our craven politicians refuse to face up to so I guess will be left to the likes of “Defund the BBC” and ChilliJonCarne to educate people out of their complacency.

    5. Nottingham Lad Himself
      January 1, 2022

      If the country requires more revenues, then beyond stopping waste it should simply raise general taxation.

      However, by confining the rises to NI, the government avoid the Tory pensioner voters having to do their bit.

      So the reasoning is quite obvious, and will hit employees and employers alike yet again.

      1. Augustus Princip
        January 1, 2022

        You increase tax revenues by reducing tax rates or eliminating taxes. We pay excessive amounts of taxation as it is.

        1. jerry
          January 1, 2022

          @AP; Allegedly, funny how few on the right ever suggest lower interest rates produce a greater return for the saver though…. 🙂

          1. Augustus Princip
            January 1, 2022

            Why would they, your argument is fallacious. There is plenty of empirical evidence to substantiate my point.

          2. jerry
            January 1, 2022

            @AP; There is also plenty of empirical evidence to substantiate that fact that setting a tax rate that is to low also causes problems. I’m not saying the Laffer curve theory is totally wrong, just that it has a “sweet-point”, just as interest rates do.

          3. Peter2
            January 1, 2022

            Well obviously not Jerry.
            Because whilst there are examples of lower tax rates resulting in higher revenues there are no examples of lower interest rates resulting in higher returns for the saver.
            PS And why do you claim this straightfoward statement is something few on the right ever suggest?
            Isn’t it something everyone would say is obvious?

        2. Paul Cuthbertson
          January 1, 2022

          AP – Spot on but increased revenues are only wasted due to incompetency. Do we REALLY need a government?

          1. hefner
            January 7, 2022

            P2, jerry’s comment might not be wrong: there also is a sweet point for interest rate. Below it potential savers decide a saving account is not worth opening and those with money go on the stock market instead. That’s exactly what happened in the last few years.

        3. acorn
          January 1, 2022

          You have got me there AP. How does eliminating taxes increase tax revenues? HMRC has reems of evidence that shows reducing tax rates reduces tax revenue over a budget cycle. They even publish a ready-reckoner to tell the Treasury how tax changes historically affect revenue. Even Laffer gave up on the Laffer Curve myth. Nobody could workout where the Laffer Point is for any particular tax system.

          JR’s tax cut mantra, never explains if his tax cuts will be offset by government spending cuts; or, he is prepared to accept a higher fiscal (budget) deficits. Or, how much of those tax cuts will be spent or more likely, saved.

          UK Banks currently have over £1,000 billion of government spending sat in their BoE “reserve” accounts. Those reserves, in aggregate, mirror the deposits in their customers’ current and savings accounts. Those customers aren’t spending those deposits, so the Treasury isn’t getting its money back in taxes. Those deposits are moving too slowly to create any growth in the economy. At least, we are nowhere as bad as the Japanese at spending the governments money yet.

          Reply U.K. cuts in Income rates and Corp Tac rates have delivered more revenue

          1. Peter2
            January 1, 2022

            So why do they put up tobacco tax rates to try to reduce use then acorn?
            Come on eh.
            As Martin used to keep saying.

          2. jerry
            January 3, 2022

            @Peter2; But does putting up tobacco taxes actually cut consumption, or simply increase inward tax revenue, that HMRC passes to the NHS -which if I recall was the original intent.

      2. Oldwulf
        January 1, 2022

        @NLH
        “…it should simply raise general taxation.”

        Sadly, raising general taxation is not simple. An increase in tax on earnings will often be a disincentive to the workers and entrepreneurs… so the tax take is lower.

        In the 1980s the American economist, Arthur Laffer, advised on the tax rate which produced the maximum amount of tax receipts. He seemed to have had some success although he was not without critics.

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          January 1, 2022

          The cartoon caricature version of Laffer’s ideas, parroted on right wing threads such as this, has been thumpingly and utterly debunked.

          1. Peter2
            January 1, 2022

            Odd how the left despise the idea of setting percentage tax rates to maximise revenues.
            Do you get a thrill from high percentage rates?

          2. oldwulf
            January 1, 2022

            @NAH
            One person’s “… he was not without critics” is another person’s “… thumpingly and utterly debunked”.
            😂😂

          3. Nottingham Lad Himself
            January 1, 2022

            Upon a proper construction of Laffer’s principle the percentage for maximum take would be FAR higher than your fantasy, and probably higher than anything contemplated by any recent UK government.

            For one thing, his theory does NOT quantify the effects of the scope for evasion, only of some vague “motivation”.

            The developing global agreements will have a profound effect on the former.

          4. Peter2
            January 1, 2022

            Not necessarily NHL
            When top rates of income tax fell revenues rose
            When rates of Capital Gains tax rise revenues fell
            Despite experts predicting the very opposite result.

          5. No Longer Anonymous
            January 1, 2022

            NLH – The more you tax the more people try to avoid paying tax by using accountants or give up trying to make profit in the first place.

            I’m seriously thinking of scaling back my skill levels.

          6. hefner
            January 7, 2022

            Again, not necessarily P2: your Laffer curve effect on CGT is not really correct, it does depend on which asset the CGT is related to. It is different for shares/investments vs. properties. It also depends whether this asset has the potentiality of being gifted or not.
            I am afraid you are a bit too quick in your urge to shut up a number of contributors on this blog even when your counter arguments do not hold much water.

      3. Micky Taking
        January 1, 2022

        Sometimes MARTIN I think you live in a world where all pensioners, state paid or self funded are Tory voters. If true, with all that wealth of real world experience wouldn’t you think there must be some good reasons why? Given that the Tory paid state pension is the lowest in Europe – isn’t that evidence that they might do better under a different party?

    6. Dave Andrews
      January 1, 2022

      Totally agree on employer’s NI in preference to reducing CT (from the current 19% that is). What advantage to having a lower taxation on profits if a company’s taxed before it even makes any money?

  2. SM
    January 1, 2022

    Everything you write here makes complete sense to me, Sir John. What does not, however, is why on earth the supposed Conservative government is not carrying out such actions.

    PS: my New Year has really not got off to a good start, by the way: a certain former Prime Minister being appointed a Knight of the Garter??? Really???

    Reply That was not a recommendation of the PM

    1. SM
      January 1, 2022

      Thank you, John – that sets part of my mind at rest.

    2. lifelogic
      January 1, 2022

      I agree fully with John’s suggestions. What is needed is much far government waste, huge tax cuts & simplifications, real freedom & (level playing field) choices in health care, schools and universities. Cull soft loans for fairly worthless degrees as most are. When this government talk about “levelling up” they mean the government wasting yet more money on usually daft projects like HS2 the opposite of what is needed. Stamp duty at such high levels are a tax on job mobility and should go. IHT still at 40% over just £325K is a huge deterrent to the rich & hard working from living or investing in the UK at all.

      The usual depressing honours list. Perhaps 20% deserved and 80% of fairly dire and even some positively evil people – where the awards are totally undeserved and immoral.

      1. Mary M.
        January 1, 2022

        I woke up feeling really positive about 2022, until I saw who were included in the New Year’s Honours List. What some of those 80% have been responsible for!

        Happy New Year, anyway. We have to stay optimistic.

        Mary M.

        1. Micky Taking
          January 1, 2022

          Hmmm….all a bit like Eurovision – people who you never heard of, done nothing, head up a number of career long ‘deserving’ but get the reward.

          1. Paul Cuthbertson
            January 1, 2022

            MT – As always in life, promote the incompetent. I have seen it SO often.

      2. Nig l
        January 1, 2022

        Yes appallingly it was a real Dame. Looking at the performance of Test and Trace etc, should have been a pantomime one.

        1. lifelogic
          January 1, 2022

          +1.

          All the past PMs over my lifetime have been fairly dire with the partial exception of Lady Thatcher (Though Wilson did keep us out of Vietnam). Non has cut the state down to size and all have buried us further into the EU (without the people’s permission). But Blair has surely done the most damage with his counterproductive wars, his dire devolution arrangements, his dire education and NHS reforms and gross economic mismanagement.

          And then we have the medial scientist. Many have made several huge errors on Covid. Vaccinating children (which the statistics surely show causes far more harm than good), not vaccinating men younger than women in the vaccine roll out, (this has surely killed about 1000 extra people, and cost far more too), the lock downs in general.

          Lockdowns are ‘the single biggest public health mistake in history’ Prof Jay Bhattacharya warned of the ‘enormous collateral consequences’.

          Why too are they not being honest about the fact that Covid was, almost certainly, a Wuhan lab leak after gain of function experimentation. The evidence for this seems very strong indeed. But the US and UK governments have clearly decided to pretend otherwise.

      3. hefner
        January 1, 2022

        If people really wanted to invest in UK start-ups they could do so using EIS (and SEIS) or go for AIM IHT ISA, all solutions that minimise tax (even IHT). Obviously all those are riskier than comfortably raking rents from BTLs and continuously moaning on Sir John’s website.

        1. Lifelogic
          January 1, 2022

          I have used these schemes but EIS and SEIS have rather restrictive rules or limited activities etc. and extra admin costs. The main problem being you can own only up to 30% (together with your family) so you never have full control of the company.

          BTL investments have largely been killed off by (often over 100% taxation of rents) and excessive non indexed CGT too (The dire Osborne to blame but retained by the tax to death fools Hammond and Sunak). Plus we have excessive misguided regulation too. Hence the lack of many available properties to rent – thus damaging tenants and would be tenants too.

      4. Lifelogic
        January 1, 2022

        “far less government and government waste” rather.

        Charles Moore Today is spot on as usual, net zero will be even moore expensive and idiotic than the ERM. Kwarteng and Hands really do not have a clue about the laws of physics, energy engineering/economics or energy realities. These history grads. regularly demonstrate this total ignorance to all. It will be a huge political disaster (as well as an economic one), once people start paying for it too. Every subsidised (or market rigged green jobs) will destroy or export at least three real ones. This due to the taxation needed to subsidise them and the over expensive and not on demand energy agenda.

        “Boris faces the same fate as John Major if he persists with the elite dogma of net zero. When we crashed out of the ERM, it demolished the political orthodoxy of the time. Johnson’s climate agenda has to reckon with reality sooner or later.”

        CHARLES MOORE in the Telegraph.

        Give us the sane, pre Carrie “couldn’t blow the skin off a rice pudding” Boris back please now!

    3. jerry
      January 1, 2022

      @JR reply; Indeed, it was not a political appointment, being offered by someone above party politics.

    4. Micky Taking
      January 1, 2022

      why am I not surprised? Will the Queen avoid being the one to swing the sword, or will she relish the chance to generate some anxiety in the pompous one?

    5. JoolsB
      January 1, 2022

      When the likes of Blair get Knighthoods, it is well and truly time the antiquated honours system was abolished or at least rule out politicians and civil servants merely for having done their jobs, many of them badly at that. Blair’s Knighthood is an insult to every man, woman and child in this country who lost loves ones in Blair’s wars. Shame on whoever allowed this to go ahead.

      1. Fedupsoutherner
        January 1, 2022

        Jowls. Your comment says exactly what I also feel and think.

      2. Mark B
        January 2, 2022

        It was a gift of HMQ.

  3. David Peddy
    January 1, 2022

    Excellent programme. Hope they are reading/listening?
    Could we repudiate the dotty Biden 15% floor for Corporation Tax and go to 12.5% instead ?

    1. lifelogic
      January 1, 2022

      CT tax should be 0% as companies invest it far better than government do creating jobs, economic growth and expanding the tax base. Tax it only when they money is paid out – as dividends or wages let the businesses grow it is in the interests of all.

      1. Dave Andrews
        January 1, 2022

        Agree entirely, but you need to have a dividend withholding tax for foreign owned companies. I’d much rather UK investment came from British wealth rather than constantly looking for foreign investment, whose money beyond the reach of HM Treasury hasn’t been taxed to nothing.

        1. lifelogic
          January 1, 2022

          +1

      2. Augustus Princip
        January 1, 2022

        Eliminate VAT, an immediate Brexit bonus.

        1. glen cullen
          January 1, 2022

          Spot On

    2. alan jutson
      January 1, 2022

      DP

      John, I thought that’s what the people who voted Conservative at the last election thought they were going to get. Not the muddled thinking and crap policies that have been dished out so far.
      Happy New Year.

    3. jerry
      January 1, 2022

      @David Peddy; Not if we are hopping for a FTA with the USA any time soon.

  4. Sea_Warrior
    January 1, 2022

    ‘The UK government should repeal the EU ports legislation …’ Agreed – but why hasn’t it done so already

  5. PeteB
    January 1, 2022

    A long list of New Year’s resolutions. Let’s see how many are adopted and how quickly the government makes progress. Based on 2021 I will not hold my breathe.

    This returns to a point that comes up time and time again. How to pressure for such changes? Sir John, I appreciate you attempt to do this from ‘within’. Does writing to one’s local MP make a similar impact? What would cause Boris and the rest to listen?

    Reply Yes, mobilise. The more the message gets out there that we want improvements the better.

    1. Timaction
      January 1, 2022

      I’ve given up. I’ve written 4 plus times on the Dover illegal immigrants boat service to my MP (JRM) be given platitudes and no answers. He knows it and I know it and I will never vote for him again. Their human rights take precedent not ours. In fact I will actively campaign and pay to remove him! When am I and other English taxpayers getting our free 4* Hotels, food, pocket money and mobile phones? Did you provide this to our homeless and war veterans? Answers on a post card!

      1. Narrow Shoulders
        January 1, 2022

        Each night at a 4* hotel for those welcomed incomers, is the same cost as a night in a care home for a Brit with assets who has paid tax and NI all their life.

        Priorities!

      2. Brian Tomkinson
        January 1, 2022

        +1

      3. Nottingham Lad Himself
        January 1, 2022

        Human rights are identical for all humans within this jurisdiction.

        If the claimants lose theirs then you lose yours.

        There is absolutely no way round that fundamental legal principle.

        You must grasp that.

        1. Dave Andrews
          January 1, 2022

          No human rights are violated if you say the UK taxpayer doesn’t need to foot the bill.
          I give my full permission for human rights charities to pick up the tab.

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            January 1, 2022

            This country has made sincere promises before the world as to how it will treat asylum claimants, in common with most others. It also obeys the Law Of The Sea.

            Yes, it can always derogate from those.

            And the rest of the world will form their view.

          2. Micky Taking
            January 1, 2022

            Martin – some EU countries build walls and razor wire fences to defend against illegal invaders.

          3. Nottingham Lad Himself
            January 1, 2022

            As Andy has patiently explained for the umpteenth time, many of those who came on dinghies were granted asylum.

            So they were never illegal invaders.

            Those who were refused were here unlawfully on the other hand, and will be deported if they do not voluntarily leave.

            What physical borders countries erect to non-European Union countries is entirely a sovereign matter for them.

        2. Peter2
          January 1, 2022

          Where are the human rights for all our own homeless citizens NHL?
          Where is their right to be put up in hotels?

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            January 1, 2022

            You ask very valid questions.

        3. BW
          January 1, 2022

          So are responsibilities but some get around that

        4. No Longer Anonymous
          January 1, 2022

          NLH – I have repeatedly tried to explain to Andy that if I set to sea in an unworthy vessel from a safe shore (especially with a minor), forcing an RNLI rescue I would expect to be nicked and prosecuted AND pilloried by the RNLI in the news.

          It is clear from your postings today that you are a gas-lighting narcissist.

          A) Don’t you have anything better to do on NY’s Day ?

          B) Why don’t you have a hangover like I do ?

      4. jerry
        January 1, 2022

        @Timaction; Many UK citizens do get free houses, free food etc when they are without employment and in need, and they get it on condition (that illegal migrants/asylum seekers are refused), and expectation they will find paid suitable employment, it’s called Universal Credit…

        Perhaps the govt would not have to provide free hotel rooms (more like one star accommodation, not four) etc. if these migrants were allowed to do paid work, after all we are being told there is a labour shortage in some sectors post Brexit/pandemic, could not these migrants not pay for their own living expenses or live in employer provided accommodation, after all they would hardly be taking jobs from our own workshy population who refuse to do such work.

    2. jerry
      January 1, 2022

      @JR reply; I’m sure those on the left of the party will be happy do so… 😛

    3. X-Tory
      January 1, 2022

      “Does writing to one’s local MP make a similar impact?” If you tell your MP that you voted for him last time but will not do so next time, and tell him you will vote for Reform UK instead (thus proving to him that you do have an alternative), then he might prick up his ears. But even then, nothing will change as it is the Prime Minister who decides policy, not backbench MPs or even ministers.

      “What would cause Boris and the rest to listen?” The ONLY thing that will make Boris listen is the fear of losing his job. That’s it – nothing else. Not reason, or argument, or pleading – nothing but raw fear. And the only way to instill such fear is for backbenchers to REBEL and to declare NO CONFIDENCE in him – or, as a ‘warning shot’, in a minister or two. If sufficient Tory backbenchers let it be known to Labour whips that they would not support a certain minister in a vote of no confidence, and that minister were to lose such a vote in the chamber, that would certainly make Boris Johnson pay attention!!

      1. jerry
        January 1, 2022

        @X-Tory; Your mileage may differ but around here suggesting to my MP that I might be voting for “Reform” at the next election will be laughed at, on the other hand were it suggest I might vote LibDem it will be taken somewhat more seriously, given past general & local election results. But perhaps that is what you meant, vote Reform, get the LibDems (as coalition makers), just as happened in 2010 when the unthinking voted UKIP.

        As for “no confidence” votes, Boris could play that game too -assuming he has the gall, thus force the rebels to toe the line, make one or more votes a matter of confidence, should the govt lose a general election is called…

  6. Shirley M
    January 1, 2022

    Again, a sensible list of requirements to help the UK succeed. Again, the government will not listen and will continue on its destructive path. I would be highly delighted if am wrong, but I have zero trust and zero faith in this government. I have come to expect outright damage, rather than sensible policies to help the UK, from this government.

    Heaven knows who they think they are helping ….. the EU and remainers, maybe? How many undemocratic remainers are still in Parliament and working against UK interests?

  7. Graham
    January 1, 2022

    A total misrepresentation of the effect of the Irish Protocol. You start 2022 as you have behaved in 2021, denying the surrender you voted for in the Withdrawal Agreement. From Belfast, I say, shame on you sir

    Reply I did not vote for the final deal and pointed out the way the EU would seek to divert trade and use the Protocol wrongly as a weapon.

    1. Timaction
      January 1, 2022

      So what’s he waiting for? Article 16 needs to be invoked. They (EU) ain’t changing, they can’t or it would become a existential issue and destroy them. We have to be seen to be punished and humiliated to keep everyone else in line. Boris needs to grow a pair. WTO was always the way, and no payments.

      1. Denis Cooper
        January 1, 2022

        I’ve sent a letter in the direction of Liz Truss which includes a proposal for unilateral stepwise action to create alternative arrangements and help resolve the problem in a calm and orderly manner.

        1. Pass the UK laws to protect the EU Single Market which were adumbrated in paragraphs 43 and 62 of the July Command Paper.

        2. Set up a simple and flexible system of export licences for those actors who propose to carry goods across the border into the Republic, so ensuring that they become familiar with the UK legal requirements for protection of the EU Single Market and can seek advice on any related uncertainties.

        3. Ignore the nonsensical official position of the Irish government that “any checks or controls anywhere on the island would constitute a hard border” and designate a variety of sites well away from the actual border for any necessary paper or physical customs checks on the goods being exported.

        4. Once the UK had unilaterally established superior alternative arrangements in parallel with the irrational arrangements demanded by the protocol, and the alternative had proved effective, then there would no longer be any strong grounds for objection when the protocol arrangements were set aside.

        I expect the letter will go in the bin before it gets anywhere near her, but even so I have sent it.

      2. The Prangwizard
        January 1, 2022

        I’ve heard ‘Boris’questioned maybe as many as half a dozen times by NI MPs at Question Time what will he do to preserve NI in full UK status. ‘Boris’ has promised he will protect them and the UK from the EU if it doesn’t change. It hasn’t, he hasn’t and I believe he will do nothing.

        ‘Boris’ is a coward, deceiver and betrayer of our sovereignty.

      3. acorn
        January 1, 2022

        Invoking Art 16 would probably lead to the EU withdrawing the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, particularly while the French are holding the EU presidency.

        The EU would be obliged to declare a third country frontier between the Republic and Northern Ireland (NI), otherwise all the other WTO countries the EU deals with, would demand the same easy access to the EU as NI has.

        Macron would wind-up Biden and thirty three million Americans who claim Irish ancestry; and tell him to send over some diplomatic heavies to explain to NI, where their future lies if they know what’s good for them.

        1. Denis Cooper
          January 1, 2022

          You’re really struggling here.

          Suspending or cancelling the entire Trade and Cooperation Agreement because the UK invoked a safeguard clause and allowed the unfettered flow of small volumes of goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain would obviously be an entirely disproportionate reaction, and in any case the UK has achieved the same effect for certain goods through unilateral extension of grace periods, so why hasn’t the EU done what you say they would do?

          There’s no compulsion for the EU to treat all third countries in exactly the same way, and even those third countries which have land borders with the EU could be treated differently under Article 7 of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, as you have been told before, repeatedly:

          https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/06/12/the-eu-is-grossly-over-represented-at-the-g7/#comment-1235792

          So, just as an example, do you really think that the EU would entertain a demand from Belarus that the EU must open up its border to exactly match arrangements on the Irish land border?

          And what exactly do you think would the US do to Northern Ireland? Send in a fleet to blockade the sea passage and prevent the transport of goods from the rest of the UK, one of its most reliable and useful allies?

          As I have said before and say again today:

          https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2022/01/01/2022-message/#comment-1288076

          the relatively minor problem of the Irish land border was weaponised by the Irish government in the autumn of 2017 and Theresa May made the mistake of going along with it – probably because business pressure groups such as the CBI serve as proxies for Tory party donors – and then Boris Johnson made the same mistake but in an even worse form – probably because he was prepared to sell out Northern Ireland for the sake of his pathetic “Canada style” trade deal:

          https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/07/22/getting-on-with-the-neighbours/#comment-1246114

          “The EU Commission now estimates that Boris Johnson’s free trade deal is worth 0.75% of GDP to the UK.”

        2. Peter2
          January 1, 2022

          Sounds like a very undemocratic involvement by outside nations to our legal national independence acorn.
          Mind you, I realise as an EU fan you like that as a concept.

    2. Denis Cooper
      January 1, 2022

      I blame Tory MPs in general both for choosing Boris Johnson as their leader – I am aware that there was only a very restricted and rather unappealing range of possible alternatives to Theresa May – and then for obediently following him in his destructive folly.

      But if I was to single out one sitting Tory MP for particular condemnation I would not choose our host but instead I might choose the MP for Ashford, Damian Green, because from a historical perspective I believe this was a crucial error on the part of Boris Johnson on October 3 2019, Column 1389:

      https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2019-10-03/debates/585F872D-9372-4448-A32F-5CEC0FD49FB7/details#contribution-35ACC6F6-00F0-472C-91FB-3D9F8E60DE0B

      Damian Green (Ashford) (Con):

      “Many of us, on both sides of the House, want to deliver what people voted for, to avoid a no-deal Brexit and to avoid the process being strung out interminably, so I welcome the Government’s latest proposals. Can the Prime Minister assure me that the customs proposals for the Irish border do not involve the construction of any new physical infrastructure, whether at the border or anywhere else?”

      The Prime Minister:

      “I am grateful to my right hon. Friend, who has taken a keen interest in these matters for a long time and has helped to bring many Members together across the House on this question. I can tell him: absolutely not—the proposals we are putting forward do not involve physical infrastructure at or near the border or indeed at any other place.”

      Obviously that “at any other place” cannot be squared with the subsequent erection of the infrastructure characteristic of a “hard border” along the coast of Northern Ireland facing Great Britain – a kind of civilian “British Wall” analogue of Hitler’s “Atlantic Wall”, designed to defend the island of Ireland against those highly suspect British goods that need thorough checking before they can be allowed to enter the province, which is effectively part of the territory of the EU Single Market – but it also ruled out any checks and controls on goods crossing the land border in either direction at sites set well back from the actual border, as Boris Johnson had been contemplating, reportedly, instead accepting the nonsensical official position of the Irish government that “any checks or controls anywhere on the island would constitute a hard border”:

      https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/11/15/levelling-up-7/#comment-1276472

      While we continue to accept that silly mantra we are not allowed to arrange customs checks on goods that have come into Northern Ireland across the land border, and nor would we be allowed to arrange customs checks on goods destined for carriage across the land border into the Republic and the EU Single Market, and technically we would not even be allowed to arrange checks on business premises to ensure that they are following all the EU Single Market rules to which they, unlike the rest of the UK, will remain subject in perpetuity, necessarily with oversight by the EU Court of Justice.

      There must be reasons why neither Theresa May nor Boris Johnson were prepared to unsheathe the sword of common sense and slice straight through this Hibernian version of the Gordian knot.

      1. Lifelogic
        January 1, 2022

        Boris was the only one who could have saved us from Labour/SNP and deliver almost a real Brexit. Thanks goodness he did – alas he has now he has alas morphed into a mad, climate alarmist, socialist fool.

        Who else was there Jeremy Hunt? No thank you.

  8. Mick
    January 1, 2022

    The government should take stronger action, including legislation, to break the businesses of people traffickers and smugglers across the Channel. The UK is spending far too much on rescuing and housing in hotels people who are not genuine asylum seekers.
    I was under the impression that the tories had a large majority in Parliament, just get the laws passed to make our country more secure and safe or are you waiting for 2023 to call a early General Election full of empty promises were your going to lose your large majority

    1. Andy
      January 1, 2022

      The majority of those who arrived by dinghy in 2019 were granted asylum. So it turns out they were genuine asylum seekers.

      We await the 2020 figures to prove you wrong again.

      Incidentally, the dinghy problem could be ended overnight. Simply set up safe routes by which to claim asylum and the problem stops. Simples.

      1. Peter2
        January 1, 2022

        No they claimed asylum on arrival.
        Their cases are being considered.
        These cases can take years due to legal aid lawyers spinning out the appeals process.
        You know this Andy.

        1. hefner
          January 1, 2022

          Indeed they do, and according to refugeecouncil.org.uk on 17/11/2021 ‘New Refugee Council analysis shows most people arriving by small boats across the Channel are likely be fleeing persecution’.
          91% of people arriving in the UK between January 2020 and May 2021 originate from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. 98% of those arriving here apply for asylum, with 61% getting refugee status after the first procedure (that can take up to 18 months).
          59% of the remaining 39% get the status after appealing the original decision.
          In fine that’s 84% of them getting such a status, and that’s despite the Home Secretary repeating that 70+% are ‘economic migrants’.

          So who to believe? A HS keen on pleasing her ‘supporters’ or the people actually looking at what these people coming on small boats exactly are because most other safe routes have been closed.

          Before someone shouts at me, please read Lord Kerr of Kenlochard’s contribution to the Lords’ debate on immigration when he pointed out that nobody from Koweit, Yemen, Vietnam had been admitted to the UK between 01/‘20 and 05/‘21 and only one person from Iran was admitted using the previous safe routes.

          Please read also ‘Asylum Statistics’, SN01403, 13/09/2021, researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk
          and ‘Why do people come to the UK? To work’, gov.uk, 25/11/2021

          You might learn a few things.

          reply One of the issues is most of these travellers come from France, a safe country that you admire more than the U.K.

          1. Peter2
            January 1, 2022

            I’m not shouting at you hef and thanks for your essay.
            I like to learn a few things so it’s good to be informed by you because you are apparently really clever.
            But these are actually queue jumpers.
            There is a process for both normal immigration and claiming refugee status.
            France is a safe democratic nation, I think you might agree.
            That is where most are living.
            France should take responsibility and look after them.

            Do you think any nation has any ability to say we cannot accept more than a particular number per annum?
            Or is it that you would accept an infinite number?

            Interested to hear you tell us if there is any numerical limit to your generosity and virtue signalling?

          2. Nottingham Lad Himself
            January 1, 2022

            I wonder, if Sir John ever needed to claim asylum, whether he’d opt for a safe country like Papua if it were accessible, or then try to make it to nearby Australia?

            If so then why?

            Reply I would do it by a legal route and not pay people smugglers

          3. Nottingham Lad Himself
            January 2, 2022

            That’s an unrelated point, Sir John.

          4. hefner
            January 2, 2022

            Not surprising given France is the geographically closest country to Britain.
            As for my ‘admiration’ for France, at least the French can choose their president independently of who they choose as their local MP. And they have a codified constitution that anybody can consult without the need to go through multiple documents or analyses of what is unwritten in ‘the constitution of the UK’.

            The four principles (democracy, rule of law, parliamentary sovereignty and respect for international law) are fine and dandy except for the fact that any of these principles can/could be reversed by an Act of Parliament that would be supported by a majority not of the 650 MPs but of those actually expressing a vote. Or, given the recent past, the number of decisions taken using the Statutory Instrument format and the intrinsic quality of a non negligible number of MPs, it is not such a far-fetched idea that the UK could without much say from the better MPs easily slip into a kind of ‘soft dictature’ (look on bills.parliament.uk at the content of the various Private Member’s Bills and see how some MPs are deluded/demented).
            Look also at what dog’s dinner the coming Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts is, particularly ‘to make new provision for new offences and for the modification of existing offences, to make provision about the power of the police and other authorities for the purposes of preventing, detecting, investigating or prosecuting crime or investigating other matters, to make provision about the maintenance of public order, …’

          5. Peter2
            January 2, 2022

            Yes I’ve noticed France is geographically closest to the UK so thanks for pointing that out hef.
            You keep telling us about these problems with our constitution and Parliamentary processes but we soldier on democratically from election to election.
            Imperfect?
            Yes but sound and solid and ongoing.
            Is France really the system to copy?

      2. Micky Taking
        January 1, 2022

        There is a legal method -fill in the forms from abroad, writing that you prefer the UK benefits and tolerance – oh.. and the showering of gifts.

        1. Andy
          January 1, 2022

          Unfortunately, despite your claims – this method really doesn’t exist. Aside from a small scheme for Afghans which doesn’t work properly. Wouldn’t it be better for all of filling in forms abroad was genuinely an option?

          You vote for the clowns in power. Tell them it’s what you want.

          1. Micky Taking
            January 1, 2022

            Well you voted for Blair in 1997 – did you get what you wanted? Seemingly not as you didn’t vote for him again (2001). Caught once, but not twice, eh?
            He had the fuel crisis and the Foot& mouth disaster – so you didn’t vote for him.
            Now we have an energy ‘crisis’ and Covid – – – ring any bells?

    2. X-Tory
      January 1, 2022

      The ONLY solution to this invasion by bogus asylum seekers is to eliminate the ‘pull factor’. And the pull factor is the prospect of being allowed to stay here, whether by being granted asylum, or ELR (exceptional leave to remain) or simply by being able to avoid deportation and dragging things out until the government gives up on trying to deport you. So how do you eliminiate this pull factor? By IMMEDIATELY deporting ALL those who arrive here, WITHOUT ANY RIGHT OF APPEAL (including judicial review) back to their country of ORIGIN.

      This can be justified very easily by saying that in order to arrive in the UK, these people will have had to pass through safe countries, and their failure to apply for asylum in these countries proves that safety is not their priority, and they are therefore bogus. Obviously, we will need to exclude these people from the human rights laws, on the basis that they are fraudulent and are not legally in the country, and therefore cannot be allowed to use our country’s legal system.

      You can be sure that after we have deported the first 100 or so, no more will come here, and the problem will be solved!

  9. Duyfken
    January 1, 2022

    The government “should” do this and “should” do that, all with which I can certainly agree, but why has the government not already done so? Our PM seems limited to repetitious blather of good intentions, and his Cabinet colleagues also, particularly Patel, but nothing we expected of the Tory government gets done.

    Instead, we have been lumbered with the shibboleths of the woke and the fantasies of the righteous environmentalists.

    This government has failed; too late to expect it now to to do what “should” be done.

    Deeds not words.

    1. Narrow Shoulders
      January 1, 2022

      Instead, we have been lumbered with the shibboleths of the woke and the fantasies of the righteous environmentalists.

      I might get this printed on a T-Shirt.

  10. Richard1
    January 1, 2022

    All sounds sensible to me. If there’s no sign of progress in this direction by the middle of the year I suggest a change of leader. The combination of tax, spend, borrow, statism and green crap is an election loser. And does no good for the Country.

    1. Micky Taking
      January 1, 2022

      Why wait?

  11. ukretired123
    January 1, 2022

    So good to hear you are making waves Sir John – off to a cracking start!

    (O/T How can it be right for the impartial BBC allowing Graham Norton to be ranting about the Brexit revolution?)

    1. Lifelogic
      January 1, 2022

      Is there an impartial BBC somewhere? The only one I see is obsessed by climate alarmism, lockdowns, big government, Covid scare and weather scare porn & still wants to rejoin the EU. They also want to retain the licence fee – which is blatantly unfair competition and a regressive poll tax on the poor.

  12. dixie
    January 1, 2022

    Congratulations on making it through the last year and happy and prosperous New Year to all.
    A good list of resolutions and I hope the government pays attention to these issues quickly because the Covid excuse will disappear very quickly.
    I would also add the need to encourage lifetime learning and retention of research, development, industry and commerce in the UK rather than replacing them with dormitories, especially in England outside London and the favoured towns.

  13. Wanderer
    January 1, 2022

    Happy New Year and thank you for all the work you do in promoting this agenda, including this blog.

    Let the rest of us do our bit wherever possible, to promote those policies.

  14. The Prangwizard
    January 1, 2022

    All the above, indeed and urgently.

    But one more item – end all pre-travel covid tests now. I’m sure they have no real benefit and are political only. Well ‘Boris’, dare you?

  15. Narrow Shoulders
    January 1, 2022

    Please, no more help with owning a home, thus pushing up prices even further.

    Let the market find its equilibrium by staying out of it. Indeed your government could reduce housing benefit which would in turn reduce rents thus reducing the price of housing and make it easier to own a home. Less intervention all round would be a massive help.

  16. Narrow Shoulders
    January 1, 2022

    Sir John – you list much more government action for 2022. Although I think many of your ideas are commendable I caution you against calling for more action from your left-leaning, authoritarian administration.

    Blinkered as it is they will hear your cries for more intervention but not through the policies you suggest.

    (This) Government does best, when it does least. President Obama presided over a record length of time of growth when he could not legislate due to being outnumbered in both houses, we could learn much from this.

  17. Richard II
    January 1, 2022

    A happy and productive New Year to our good host. May he be listened to more in government circles, especially for his warnings on energy supply, some of which we get from abroad. I see the French are now considering ‘targeted power cuts to consumers’ in January depending on weather conditions:
    https://www.rte-france.com/actualites/niveau-de-vigilance-sur-lapprovisionnement-en-electricite-rehausse-pour-le-mois-de
    Worries over inadequate electricity supplied by wind farms play a big part in this.

    I wonder if the French will have some electricity left over for us.

    1. Andy
      January 1, 2022

      France makes most of its electricity from nuclear power. Its current problems stem largely from the fact that they have found a fault at a nuclear power station which has provoked concern of similar faults at similar power stations – with 17 out of 56 nuclear power stations currently offline. Wind power has little to do with it.

      I understand many of you are proponents of nuclear power because you tell us how reliable it is. See also – France, running short of power due to technical problems with nuclear power stations. Oh dear.

      1. Micky Taking
        January 1, 2022

        hence their interest in Interconnectors with us, to avoid their lights going out?

        1. Andy
          January 1, 2022

          Yes. But you lot seem opposed to interconnectors. The whole point is that it enables us to share resources and risk. When we have too much wind we can export the excess. When there isn’t enough wind we can use interconnectors to import hydro power from Norway or geo-thermal from Iceland or solar power from the Med. Who knew the grown up world could work like this?

          Reply Interconnectors to an energy short EU busily closing its nuclear and coal plants is a very foolish idea.

          1. Micky Taking
            January 1, 2022

            at the end of the energy source line- we are the bull with the ring in its nose, led meekly by Sheiks and Putin. Just a little tweak and we are in pain.
            Forget about sharing the thin gruel over the wire, the problem lies with the very fat cook.

      2. Richard II
        January 1, 2022

        Read the article, Andy – I believe you have a second home in France, so I expect you can manage enough French to do that. I was quoting what the Réseau de Transport d’Electricité itself says, towards the end of the article. But no doubt they would be delighted to hear from you that their concerns are misplaced.

      3. Original Richard
        January 1, 2022

        Andy :

        “Its [France’s] current problems stem largely from the fact that they have found a fault at a nuclear power station which has provoked concern of similar faults at similar power stations.”

        It always was a mistake to allow the French government to not only own and control our existing nuclear power plants (sold by pro-EU Britphobe Labour in 2009) but also for the incoming coalition government of pro-EU Britphobes Cameron and Clegg to give the order for a new nuclear power plant in 2010 to the French and Chinese governments.

        Unimaginable.

  18. BOF
    January 1, 2022

    Here’s wishing Sir John and all who contribute on this site a happy New Year.

    ‘where some EU rules hold us back’. After all this time why on earth are we following EU rules? Oh yes. Because that is the choice of our Government, despite us voting repeatedly for the opposite, we are betrayed by our spineless, socialist, EU appeasing leaders, themselves led by EU loving civil serpents.

    Mention of fishing is another blood boiling moment. Alexander the Cautious has already leaned over backwards (capitulated) to the French and granted new licences.

    Why do I have to start the year with so much anger in me.

    1. Andy
      January 1, 2022

      Because you’re a Brexitist and anger is your default emotion?

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        January 1, 2022

        😆

        1. Micky Taking
          January 1, 2022

          what a pair you two are. Permanent whingeing protestors about anything and everything.
          Get a life for heavens sake!

  19. Peter Parsons
    January 1, 2022

    “the successful implementation of Brexit”

    We were told Brexit is already done (or were we all misled…?)

    Looking at the mess this government has made of the new extra paperwork it has imposed on businesses from today (systems not ready, information being asked for that won’t actually be available until the middle of the year), it inspires zero confidence in their ability to deliver anything.

    1. Peter2
      January 1, 2022

      The extra paperwork is for those who have the responsibility of importing goods into the UK
      In the majority of cases this is the supplier company abroad.
      More importantly it is a similar requirement to goods imported into the UK from the rest of the world.

  20. Everhopeful
    January 1, 2022

    This government needs to drop the Online Harms Bill.
    It won’t…and then we will never be able to criticise it again.

    1. glen cullen
      January 1, 2022

      I love the way they sell it as a benefit to the people…”its for our safety”

      1. BOF
        January 1, 2022

        G C. That is the refrain of the tyrant.

      2. Everhopeful
        January 1, 2022

        +1
        Spot on ..
        “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
        C S Lewis

      3. Everhopeful
        January 1, 2022

        +1 glen
        See quotation.
        So true!

  21. Old Albion
    January 1, 2022

    Happy new year Sir Jr.
    Blair the man took us to war based on a pack of lies………………….knighted. I could vomit.

    1. Micky Taking
      January 1, 2022

      +1

    2. Nottingham Lad Himself
      January 1, 2022

      Appointed by Her Majesty The Queen.

      Show some respect.

      1. Micky Taking
        January 1, 2022

        When did HRM ever say ‘No!’

        Don’t be so silly Martin.
        Blair and his boss Dubbya Bush wanted us to believe they were appointed by God, when making war on the innocents – so-called ‘collateral damage’.

      2. MWB
        January 1, 2022

        Why ?

    3. Fedupsoutherner
      January 1, 2022

      All those lost lives and tormented souls. It’s heartbreaking.

    4. R.Grange
      January 1, 2022

      Me too, Old Albion. I wonder what David Kelly’s surviving relatives thought of it. He was a government scientist you could respect.

      1. Micky Taking
        January 1, 2022

        More collateral damage, once identified.
        Rest in Peace – I pray those responsible will not !

  22. turboterrier
    January 1, 2022

    Regarding your first paragraph. Are this shower really capable of stopping, start really thinking and implementing the promised policies to stop the out of control charge to the cliff edge?
    Not a snowball in hells chance. Very good at talking the talk but no ability to listen and act.

  23. Nig l
    January 1, 2022

    Agreed. But we are already seeing Boris claiming post Brexit success, if you look at the list it’s pathetic, and promising to do more this year.

    On the basis his promises are worth precisely zero and he has surrounded himself with talentless gutless acolytes, I am similarly expecting zero, indeed rewards for mediocrity and mendacity in the New Years Honours list are metaphors for what is to come.

    I hope Sir JR you can/have? constructed a coalition of similar minded MPs as an awkward squad to force a change of direction.

    Currently my electricity and gas bills are telling me to vote for someone else.

    1. Peter Parsons
      January 1, 2022

      Since Brexit, the cost of the milk I buy has gone up 15% and bread and potato products by 20%.

      That is despite being promised lower food prices by leavers.

      I don’t consider that to be success.

      reply I never offered cheaper food prices. remain told us jobs, house prices and the pound would fall once we left. All rose in the first year after Brexit.

      1. Peter Parsons
        January 1, 2022

        The Savanta survey published today shows that voters feel that the remain campaigb predictions have proved to be closer to reality than those proffered by the leave campaign and an absolute majority think Brexit has done more harm than good.

        1. Micky Taking
          January 1, 2022

          I am so glad that the farmers working hard to provide bread, milk and potatoes will be paid more. However, in reality a number of others will take a slice of any price increase -possibly all of it.

          1. Peter2
            January 1, 2022

            Well said Mickey
            There have been TV programmes showing how UK dairy farmers are losing money as retailers force low prices upon them.
            Yet Peter Parsons resents just an extra 15 pence on his daily pinta.
            I don’t.

          2. Peter Parsons
            January 1, 2022

            Peter2, I resent all the broken “promises” leavers made. It’s not just milk, though, the cost of items in the shops has gone up across the board and todays’s new government created Brexit bureaucracy will only increase prices further. Those increased prices will hit ordinary voters in the pocket.

            It is said that people don’t vote to maje themselves poorer, but that is exactly what many leave voters have actually done.

          3. Peter2
            January 2, 2022

            Food prices rose whilst we were in the EU
            The Common Agricultural Policy was meant to provide us with stable prices.
            But it didn’t.
            Is there a chance you see everything that happens as a consequence of Brexit PP?

          4. Peter Parsons
            January 2, 2022

            Well, when people make a promise or a claim that if X happens, Y will follow as a consequence, and what actually happens is the exact opposite of Y, I think it is only fair to call those people out.

        2. alan jutson
          January 1, 2022

          Peter
          Yes indeed you are correct, it has not turned out as expected, (certainly not as yet), because we did not leave properly, we are still tied to the EU and some of its rules/regulations and laws, because so many Mp’s and three Prime Ministers (Cameron, May and Boris) refused to simply leave, as was the written option on the referendum sheet.
          Thus you end up in e degree of chaos if you do not do anything properly, and are half hearted about it., no matter what the task !

      2. a-tracy
        January 1, 2022

        You should get to Aldi Peter, 19p for 1 kg of white British potatoes, £1.15 for 4 litres of British milk what are you paying?

        1. Peter Parsons
          January 1, 2022

          I’m paying £1.15 for milk that a year ago before Brexit cost me £1.00.

          1. Peter2
            January 1, 2022

            Give to the poor UK dairy farmers Peter.
            You can manage it I reckon.
            They were losing money.
            You believe in sustainability?

          2. a-tracy
            January 2, 2022

            Peter, I thought you’d support a large NLW increase for all including farmers, shop workers, dairy workers. If we push up wages and benefits then costs go up. Surely that is better for everyone in the British food chain? These companies have had a large increase in fuel costs (not only caused by Brexit I’m sure you’ll agree). I personally do not begrudge the people in that supply chain their extra 15p per 4 pints.

  24. William Long
    January 1, 2022

    But all of this would requirem a most humiliating U Turn so I am afraid I cannot see it happening. We have a Socialist Government with no apparent alternative on the skyline.
    Who do you think of the likely alternatives to Mr Johnson would be most likely to persue your very sensible agenda?

    1. turboterrier
      January 1, 2022

      William Long
      Alternatives?
      Sir John Redwood be a great place to start. As mentioned previously today by others, more than capable of motivating like minded colleague’s to deliver what’s been endlessly talked about but never actioned.

      1. Sharon
        January 1, 2022

        +100

      2. BOF
        January 1, 2022

        +1

  25. majorfrustration
    January 1, 2022

    Can you really see any of the points mentioned implemented. Dream on

    Reply If you do not ask you definitely do not get

    1. Micky Taking
      January 1, 2022

      REPLY TO REPLY ….but that confirms there are few brain cells between those in power. Why else do they not come up with sensible policies?

      1. SM
        January 1, 2022

        They don’t even need to ‘come up’ with sensible policies, our host has done that for them – so all that is necessary are the cojones to get on with implementation!

  26. agricola
    January 1, 2022

    Boris will talk the talk but when it comes to action I have my doubts as to his commitment.

    I would go for broke on Corporation Tax by reducing it to 10%. There could not be a clearer message. For our citizens benefit I would end VAT on domestic fuel as a first step in sorting out our energy policy.

    I wish you well with your shopping list. Its fulfillment is dependent on how many of your colleagues can be persuaded to follow your lead.

  27. jerry
    January 1, 2022

    “In 2022 the government needs to put the pandemic behind it.”

    If only the virus would but humans behind it, why can’t it go find some other host to live and bread on….

  28. GilesB
    January 1, 2022

    Excellent set of suggestions.

    Add fracking, increased North Sea gas, and maintaining coal production (instead of importing coal from Kazakhstan and wood pellets from the US).

    But no-one is listening.

    So top of the list has to be ‘Reform Conservative Party policy development’. The current process (though that’s a generous label for the ignorant, random, adhoc prejudices of the Prime Minister and his muse) isn’t working. Let’s have a serious proposal from backbench MPs as to how policy should be developed in a modern political party.

  29. Donna
    January 1, 2022

    The Government should do all these things, but won’t.

    This isn’t a Conservative Government. It’s a socialist-green hybrid, determined to make us colder, poorer, less mobile and with a lower standard of living …… so Johnson and the current Mrs can burnish their green credentials on the world stage.

    After the last 20 months, I now despise Johnson as much as Blair….. an evil man who should never have been knighted.

  30. DOMINIC
    January 1, 2022

    Far too much emphasis on government intervention and not enough on protecting what freedoms we have left which as we all know have been under sustained attack by now woke, regressive political State whose aim is nothing less than the complete reconfiguration of the person-State relationship

    We need almost brutal dismantling of all that Labour have been building since 1997 and shamefully and indeed shamelessly built upon by the now hideous woke Tory party who it seems will sell its soul to the authoritarian devil to maintain their seat at the table of power

    The incumbent parties and their filthy vested interests do not have a divine right to power though they have all skilfully embedded themselves and ensured the almost impossible task of imposing democratic control over agents who are now acting ultra vires

    To see Knighthoods being handed out to people who have used public health narrative and associated deceit using dodgy data (SNP inflating Covid figures is criminal) to take away our most precious freedoms is deeply OFFENSIVE

    Shameful but a sign of the immoral and brutally intolerant times we now have to suffer. That assault on the civil space by this government and its backbench and media lackeys as they pander to the progressive lobbyists will accelerate as we move forward towards the Socialist utopia.

  31. beresford
    January 1, 2022

    Don’t forget the repeal of the Coronavirus Act and the removal of the currently limited ‘vaccine’ passport mandate. While the thin end of the wedge is inserted there is the threat of the same disgraceful laws which are proposed or enacted elsewhere in the world.

    1. BOF
      January 1, 2022

      +1 BERESFORD

  32. Andy
    January 1, 2022

    It is heartening to see Tony Blair get the knighthood he has long deserved. I only voted for him once – 1997 – but there is no doubt he is a political giant and the towering post-war PM.

    Sir Tony left office to a round of applause from MPs on all sides of the House, whilst Thatcher was bundled out in tears by the men in grey suits. Sir Tony was still popular with the public whilst Thatcher was widely despised.

    For years political honours have been reserved for the fools who backed Brexit. Perhaps the slow return to decency has begun.

    1. Old Albion
      January 1, 2022

      I’ve long wondered about your sanity Andy. If you really believe this, I no longer wonder.

    2. Micky Taking
      January 1, 2022

      yes we have a socialist/communist H of C.

    3. Shirley M
      January 1, 2022

      Andy, I don’t know where in the UK you reside, but it appears to have a completely differently minded population to the rest of the country! Even the miners hate Blair, and they hate him far more than they hate Thatcher. Politicians have never been representative of the UK population but maybe they were celebrating getting rid of him? As to the House of Lords … it is stuffed full of remainers, and very few Brexiters, but I doubt you will complain about that, or even the fact that most of the remainers in the Lords are your ‘hated’ pensioners.

      1. MWB
        January 1, 2022

        Andy tells us that he resides in “leafy LibDem Buckinghamshire.

    4. Sharon
      January 1, 2022

      And yet, Andy, on the WEF website; their is Tony Blair hugely in favour of the plans for global governance.

      I cannot agree with your comment.

      1. Sharon
        January 1, 2022

        There, not their…

    5. Nig l
      January 1, 2022

      And the Middle East is still paying the price for his hubris and mendacity kowtowing to the ignorant Bush looking for (any) vengeance after the twin towers attack.

      The only honest one, Colin Powell knows he was ‘lied’ to and to his last days wishes he could have done something different.

      Saddam was very nasty but as the other Middle East disaster, Cameron found, removing nasty strongmen created the fragmented vested interests that even today are bringing chaos to the Region.

      And having caused the chaos, what does the no shame Blair do? Line his pockets (and Ed)acting as a peace broker having been a war monger ignoring the biggest peace time protest against his actions.

      Yes Andy, truly worthy of your vote.

    6. jerry
      January 1, 2022

      @Andy; “there is no doubt he is a political giant and the towering post-war PM. “

      Oh dear, your comment is both ill-judged and devoid of any facts as usual.
      Are you not mistaking Cameron, for many if not all of the generation you seem to want to speak for the ex Labour Leader you talk of was very much the war-time leader, what is more many believe the bases of that war was illegal…

      Blair walked, like Cameron and May did later, before being pushed, by then unloved by many on his own benches never mind the opposition, how many Tories were likely celebrating his leaving, rather than any admiration, and had to be told to stand and applaud by Cameron in any case, watch the video of Blair’s last PMQ if you doubt me!

      1. rose
        January 1, 2022

        The basis of all four of his wars was unjustified. Only the war in Sierra Leone turned out well and that was no thanks to Blair but only to the brilliant planning and execution of the British army. It was a very dangerous, difficult, and complicated operation but to him it was just playing again with his toy soldiers.

        His wrongdoing includes, besides these wars:
        The Belfast Agreement
        Devolution
        Debasing university education
        Retirement of Britannia
        24 hour drinking
        Open borders
        No attempt to provide for our energy use
        No serious attempt to build houses
        No attempt to provide for better transport
        Throwing money at the NHS rather than reforming it
        Allowing Brown to sell the gold
        Allowing Brown to mix up taxation with welfare
        Allowing Brown to mess up the B of E and the banking system
        Trying to get Brown to take us into the single currency. (Murdoch dissuaded him from that.)
        Colluding with the EU to break up England into regions.
        Establishing the constitutional monstrosity of the Supreme Court
        Degrading the House of Lords to a House of Tony’s Cronies, enabling 100 of Nick’s to be added later.
        He did all this on the back of superb books left him by the Conservatives, despite the ERM debacle, and then he and Brown left the country bankrupt.
        After leaving office: Colluding with the EU to overthrow the referendum.
        And who only knows what else which is never scrutinised by the media as lobbying, nor do the media ever want to know who is paying him.

        1. rose
          January 1, 2022

          How could I have left out the HRA and the Equality Act, both time bombs left to go off in the future, affecting every aspect of our lives. The Equality Act was technically Brown’s and was sneaked in at the very last minute before they fell.

          1. Micky Taking
            January 1, 2022

            yes, but apart from all that he married a delightful woman of unimpeachable values.

          2. rose
            January 1, 2022

            Distinguished as the only PM’s wife to refuse to curtsey to the Queen. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother is said to have exclaimed from the back of the room, “Stiff knees?”

          3. jerry
            January 2, 2022

            @rose; Oh such bile, and in displaying it you tell us far more about yourself than you do your intended targets.

          4. Micky Taking
            January 2, 2022

            Rose – – and under her breath ‘pain in the arse?’.

          5. rose
            January 2, 2022

            And I should have mentioned raiding the Lottery on the very first day in office, raiding the pension funds – the strongest in Europe – and accepting a million pounds from Ecclestone.

          6. rose
            January 2, 2022

            And another thing: he gave up Mrs Thatcher’s hard won rebate for absolutely nothing in return.

          7. jerry
            January 2, 2022

            @rose; Yawn… Had it not been for Mrs Thatcher in 1975 we could have saved 100% of the money we had to send to the EEC between mid 1975 and today, we would have left the EEC, she actually cost this country dear, rebate or no rebate!

    7. David L
      January 1, 2022

      “For services to world destabilisation” would be an honest appraisal. I had such high hopes when he became PM, but, hope born to die as they say.

    8. Nottingham Lad Himself
      January 1, 2022

      Blair may have been dragged into allowing this country to be used by Bush for his ambitions in the ME.

      However, he may well have dissuaded him from using nuclear weapons in response to the twin towers attack.

      Surely people have considered this?

      1. Peter2
        January 1, 2022

        Total fantasy NHL
        Another of your ridiculous conspiracy theories.

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          January 2, 2022

          As you would reliably say, “prove it”.

          1. Peter2
            January 2, 2022

            It was your claim.
            Give us proof.
            Tell us the names of the silly conspiracy websites you’ve been reading.

      2. rose
        January 1, 2022

        Have you considered that Bush was the virgin, and Blair the experienced warmonger? Blair (and Campbell) may well have said, after their Kosovan abuse of NATO with Clinton, trust me, it’s easy to square the media.

        As for Bush using nuclear weapons in the Near and Middle East, are you, as they say, projecting?

      3. Micky Taking
        January 2, 2022

        Reached back to creative writing again, Martin.? Start that novel and leave us in the real world…

  33. George Brooks.
    January 1, 2022

    All the points you make today, Sir John, I totally agree with and you have made them several times in the second half of last year. So far little has changed and I am prepared to allow the reason for this to be that the government was totally pre-occupied with getting Covid-19 under some degree of containment.

    The PM has made his New Year pledge to press ahead with the advantages of Brexit and he and his administration have no more than 3 months to make some clearly demonstrable implementations of the changes you have listed. In addition they need to publicly announce that ECJ will never be the arbiter in anything agreed with the EU and scotch all the rumours that have been banded about since the resignation of Lord Frost.

    Let’s know where we stand, and hear what the ”direction of travel” is that brought about this resignation and who is directly involved. This, I accept, is a forlorn wish. However if the PM thinks this New Year statement will go anyway towards restoring his standing as it was in December 2019 he is living in ‘cloud cuckoo land’!!

    Only clear action and implementation on the Protocol, Fishing, Borders and Taxation will save his position and his party from being banished to the wilderness for 10 years or more

  34. Dave Andrews
    January 1, 2022

    I would like to disagree regarding the Maastricht rules, as I think capping debt to 60% of GDP is a sensible target (not that many countries in the EU abide by it, with no penalty it would seem), to be achieved by regulating spending to government income. Decide what needs to be spent on essentials, put by some to pay off a bit of National Debt then ration pensions and benefits out of what’s left. Someone with their own business has to adapt their lifestyle according to income, so why shouldn’t someone who has no job do the same?
    Not likely to happen I know, with all those MPs voted in on manifestos of promised spending. So we just pass on our excessive debt to the next generation. What have they done to deserve that?

    reply Yes you roll the debt over, currently at around 1%

    1. Dave Andrews
      January 1, 2022

      Reply to reply
      Great. Can I borrow £1bn from the BoE at 0.25% and lend to the government at 1%? That’s £7.5m per annum for doing nothing. No wonder savers rates are so low when banks just don’t need our money.
      Low rates are fine whilst they stay there, but when they go up (through lack of confidence) the costs to refinance the debt goes up enormously, probably at just the time when the country isn’t doing so well.
      Here’s an idea, pay down the debt during the good times. Trouble is, government uses the good times as leverage to borrow yet more and bribe the electorate. Good job Gordon Brown abolished boom and bust!

  35. Glenn Vaughan
    January 1, 2022

    “Ne Incautus Futuri”

    “Not Heedless of the Future”

  36. Sakara Gold
    January 1, 2022

    This pandemic is not over, not by a long chalk. Every new Chinese plague virus variant is more infectious than the last, the Omicron spectacularly so. We have been fortunate that this one – so far – appears to be less lethal. The Kent variant was much more morbid than the original Alpha and the Delta has killed more people here than all the others together.

    We are fortunate that every restrictive measure proposed by the Government to reduce the spread has passed through Parliament – shamefully, with Labour support. The CRG has been unable to command anything more than a minor rebellion. We should beware a minority of politicians from the extreme far-right of the party attempting to impose their will upon us.

    1. Denis Cooper
      January 1, 2022

      I’m not sure you’re quite right to say “Delta has killed more people here than all the others together”, it’s a bit difficult to judge by eye from the graph:

      https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/deaths

      However leaving that minor point aside I recall that initially there was a widespread assumption that Delta was both more infectious and more virulent, but as the spread progressed the claims about its increased virulence receded. And now we can begin to see clearly from comparing this:

      https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/cases

      with this:

      https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/healthcare

      that the South Africans were right, omicron is much more infectious but fortunately much less dangerous, and it increasingly seems likely that it will drive out less infectious variants including delta.

      Obviously it would not be good enough if we just had loads of omicron cases on top of cases of the delta variant continuing as the same kind of level as before, the new variant has to suppress the old variant by depriving it of vulnerable targets for infection:

      https://www.euronews.com/next/2021/12/28/omicron-antibodies-could-provide-immunity-against-delta-covid-variant-south-africa-study-s

      “Omicron antibodies could provide immunity against Delta COVID variant, South Africa study suggests”

    2. Richard II
      January 1, 2022

      Here we go again. Sakara, according to official figures (ONS) there were in the UK under 12,000 people in hospital ‘with Covid’ on 29th Dec 2021, as opposed to 25,500 on 29th Dec. 2020. Likewise the ONS say there were 868 Covid patients on ICU beds on 29th Dec. 2021, as opposed to 1,939 on the same date in 2020. This tells us very clearly that earlier variants were more serious than Omicron. As almost everybody except you appears by now to have understood, I would have thought.

  37. DaveM
    January 1, 2022

    In a nutshell Sir John. Let’s be unrealistically positive and optimistic and hope the government shakes off its apathy and actually does it.

    Happy New Year.

  38. Sakara Gold
    January 1, 2022

    This morning wind is producing 13GW of electricity, this on its own is meeting 50% of demand. Even solar is producing 3%. Carbon neutral total is 21GW or 81% of demand. This is a truly tremendous amount of electricity. We are producing so much renewable electricity today that 2.7GW is being sold to the EU through the interconnectors, there is huge French demand due to their having to take several of their nuclear plants offline.

    If we had grid-storage systems in place they would be charging up nicely now. Rock on 10 million EVs on our roads!

    Reply Yes it is good news windfarms work sometimes. Why don’t you report the numbers when the wind is not blowing?

    1. Sakara Gold
      January 1, 2022

      @Sir John reply

      Because it is irrelevant. Whilst the climate change deniers and the fossil fuel lobby have wasted time attacking the clear success of Britain’s investment in renewables, we and the EU have built a supergrid network of both gas pipelines and electricity interconnectors operating right across the continent. This will shortly extend to N Africa, particularly Morocco and Russia with NordStream II (which Biden opposes because it will reduce American shipments of LNG to the EU)

      When the wind is variable, we can import both gas and electricity through these interconnectors. The converse is also true. Now that Germany has started taking its nuclear plants offline, our offshore wind energy exports will increase because their EV cars (over a million of them) will want overnight charging. This will reduce overnight wind curtailment.

      Our energy supplies are secure. The lights will not go out, lest it be because the privatised grid operators fail to maintain their network, as happened in Berkshire last week and also Scotland after the storm.

      Reply Links from an energy short U.K. to an energy starved EU is not secure.

      1. Original Richard
        January 1, 2022

        Sakara Gold :

        “Now that Germany has started taking its nuclear plants offline, our offshore wind energy exports will increase because their EV cars (over a million of them) will want overnight charging. This will reduce overnight wind curtailment.”

        I calculate that 1m evs charging at the LOW overnight rate of 7kW will require 7GW of power. The interconnector with France can only handle up to 3GW. I suppose you could add the Dutch 1GW to make it 4GW.

      2. Original Richard
        January 1, 2022

        Sakara Gold :

        “Our energy supplies are secure. The lights will not go out, lest it be because the privatised grid operators fail to maintain their network, as happened in Berkshire last week and also Scotland after the storm.”

        Quite the reverse.

        Putting all our energy eggs into one basket – electricity – and having no alternative sources from fossil fuels, particularly in times of emergency to power (parts of) the grid or emergency vehicles or to provide some warmth, light, and energy for food preparation, such as can be caused by extreme weather events, or possibly hacking attacks from hostile entities, is, in my opinion a serious risk to our nation.

      3. rose
        January 1, 2022

        “When the wind is variable, we can import both gas and electricity through these interconnectors.”

        I am completely mystified as to why you want to import gas and electricity in this way via a country which has already threatened to cut us off, and from a continent which is so short of gas it is dependent on Russia, when we already have our own natural gas under our feet and off our coast.

    2. Peter2
      January 1, 2022

      You never said where there are currently some grid sized storage systems operating successfully SG.
      If you can also say how big they are and what their costs are.
      Thanks

    3. Original Richard
      January 1, 2022

      Sakara Gold :

      As you know, intermittent and unreliable wind energy can only exist at all because fossil fuel generators are employed to stabilise the grid and for long-term back up and we await your news on the cost and energy efficiency of your proposed non-fossil fuel solution.

      BTW, I calculate that 10m evs charging at the overnight LOW charging rate of 7kW would require 70 GW of power which is over 3 times more than the 21GW which you describe as a “truly tremendous amount of electricity”.

    4. dixie
      January 1, 2022

      @SG You ignorant fanboys/girls do more damage to your cause than the entire fossil brigade.
      An EV wall charger puts out a max of 7KW, I cap mine at 6KW, so using simplistic maths your 10m EVs plugged in to charge in the morning would want 60GW but would be lucky to see even the 13GW you are crowing about. So how do you suggest they then provide enough back to the grid during the slack periods?
      As an EV owner I would not permit the grid to use my car as a grid storage battery, it is not designed for that purpose, that kind of charge-discharge cycle, unless you are expecting me to take the hit in battery longevity and performance.
      Domestic solar power is generation in the UK is not measured, the grid knows how much I have generated in a quarter but estimates I export a half, there is no tracking of actual generation so your 3% is a fiction.
      There is no guarantee whatsoever that power will be available from an inter-connector when we need it. If we depend on these then our energy supplies are nowhere near secure – what would happen if we needed power from France at the point where their Nuclear generators are taken offline?
      I am keen on a diverse power supply capability for the UK, I am invested in solar, tidal, wind power, battery storage and EV rpojects, but I want a rational, secure and economic solution not some fairie dust bullshit. 2050 would be stretch to establish a robust supply and transport system, shortening the target to 2030 is simply insane.

    5. rick hamilton
      January 2, 2022

      “Grid storage systems” ? Your mean like the $30m battery bank that Elon Musk sold to South Australia ?
      When ‘renewables’ failed they kept the power going for about 3 minutes while SA switched to supplies from neighbouring states. Electricity prices were three times what they had been before. The Achilles heel of renewables is electrical storage which is a problem we haven’t cracked yet despite the vast sums spent on research.

  39. Brian Tomkinson
    January 1, 2022

    It is 2022 and this is still the worst government and Parliament in my lifetime. Our liberty and freedom have been usurped and what we thought was ‘democracy’ is shattered. All done deliberately by those in office obeying the orders of their puppet masters. Johnson’s New Year’s message to make a resolution to get vaccinated – it’s easier than losing weight was excruciating. The puppet masters must be turning his screw even tighter.

  40. Denis Cooper
    January 1, 2022

    A chap called David McWilliams writes in the Irish Times today telling readers that the Tories “need Brexit and the theatrical enemy of Europe in order to rally the troops”, and “Expect Whitehall to continue weaponising Northern Ireland”. A strange accusation when it was actually the Irish government which did that. But I don’t suppose that anybody in the Tory party or Whitehall will notice this, and if they do they won’t think that such arrant nonsense should be answered and not passively allowed to take hold in the minds of the citizens in a neighbouring, in fact adjoining, state, any more than they are bothered what rubbish may be poured into the ears of the US President and his coterie.

    https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/12/17/text-of-the-true-brexit-elf/#comment-1284440

    “Propaganda war has sabotaged withdrawal”

  41. roger frederick parkin
    January 1, 2022

    John. As always I am cheered by your very sensible suggestions that the government should be adopting.
    I then go into a fit of despair in the knowledge that once again they will ignore your sound advice despite having an 80 seat majority. We continually vote for your party more in hope than expectation to keep out of office a worse alternative. When will we be rewarded with the proper conservative policies we expect and were promised. I would add to your list the need for reducing the enormous amount of waste in the public sector. This is taxpayers money and such misuse of funds would not be tolerated in the private sector. I wish you and your family a happy new year, thank you for bringing us a daily diet of common sense and ask you please to continue knocking government heads together on our behalf.

  42. formula57
    January 1, 2022

    So this could be the year we get a replacement prime minister. Let us hope for the good of us all that the new one does implement your sound proposals.

  43. Mark Thomas
    January 1, 2022

    Sir John,
    Your 2022 message should be the government’s new year resolutions. One can only hope.

    I believe that now a former PM has been honoured, subsequent former PMs in turn can also be likewise recognised. This may be the custom but in my opinion none of them deserve it.

    1. Micky Taking
      January 1, 2022

      Johnson hoping to set a situation where he will get one too.

    2. hefner
      January 1, 2022

      Were these former PMs not ‘knighted’ after their time as PM? Sir Winston C? Sir Edward H? Lady T? Sir John M?
      What’s so special about Sir Anthony B? Isn’t it the simply ludicrous tradition of these isles?

  44. Alan Holmes
    January 1, 2022

    The government should do lots of things. Resigning pending prosecutions would be a start.
    The chances of that happening is somewhat less than zero as are the things you suggest Mr Redwood.
    This government is beyond sense, logic or it’s own statutes.

  45. Pieter C
    January 1, 2022

    Happy New Year Sir John, and thank you for all your efforts to influence this directionless Government into sensible policy-making. One hopes that electoral reality will break in before too long, but so far this seems a faint hope.

  46. oldtimer
    January 1, 2022

    Happy New Year!
    I agree with your proposals. Unfortunately there is little evidence that the Johnson government either agrees with them, or even has the capacity to implement them if it did. I do not see how the Conservative party can expect to retain its majority if it carries on the way it has. If Johnson is incapable of or unwilling to change (the more likely of the two) then you and like minded colleagues need to find someone who does.

  47. David Webb
    January 1, 2022

    Sir John, I agree with every word. Like all genuine conservatives, I was dismayed to wake up today to find out that Tony Blair–a man who openly held talks with EU to undermine Brexit, which could have led to treason charges against him– has been knighted. This government appears to be the opposite of the one we voted for.

    1. rose
      January 1, 2022

      I was as dismayed as you, not least because the Garter is not bestowed on the advice of the Government.

      The list of his wrongdoing is so long that never a day goes by without our feeling the effects of it. Yesterday, for example, the Scots and Welsh had to flee to England to have a little harmless fun. The trains coming into Bristol Temple Meads were packed.

  48. BOF
    January 1, 2022

    Sir John, how about adding to your list as a matter of urgency, the repeal of the Corona Virus Act, the abandonment of the online Harms bill and the vehicle tampering act, while we still have some semblance of liberty left.

  49. Sea_Warrior
    January 1, 2022

    May I propose that knighthoods – and dameynesses – should be reserved for people who have achieved great things, to the glory of their country, and who, in the conduct of their private lives, act as gentlemen/ladies, holding the barbarians back at the gate. There are some on today’s list who are motivated only be self-interest.

    1. MWB
      January 1, 2022

      These so called knighthoods should be scrapped altogether. How many other countries have such things ?

    2. alan jutson
      January 1, 2022

      Agreed, should anyone get any honours at all for doing their own Job properly, or even exceptionally well, as that is what they are paid for.

      Honours should surely go to those who work at their own expense and time, in a meaningful manner to benefit society and its people as a whole, for no financial reward to themselves.

    3. Wonky Moral Compass
      January 1, 2022

      Agreed. Granting them to time-served politicians and civil servants is an anachronism.

      1. Micky Taking
        January 1, 2022

        what about time served sportsmen and women, others who played rather well for 2 weeks in their whole short life! The darling of the media and celebrity for use when bad news might headline?

      2. Sea_Warrior
        January 1, 2022

        For MPs, the hurdle is set mighty low. What is it, twenty years’ service? I would certainly add a requirement that ministerial rank had been obtained – partly to get the numbers down and partly to ensure that this gets past our kind host.

        reply Plenty of MPs do not receive honours and there is no automatic grant after 20 years!

        1. Micky Taking
          January 2, 2022

          and half of the current Conservative MPs are at risk of losing their seat at the next GE.!

  50. Denis Cooper
    January 1, 2022

    A nice, fairly civilised, little interview here:

    https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22017160/

    Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie being interviewed by Sarah McInerney on the RTE radio channel.

    Some frustration on the part of the interviewer that unionists – the real unionists in Northern Ireland, not the mostly pretend unionists in the UK “Conservative and Unionist Party” – do not accept that their part of the UK – and just their part – should remain under the jurisdiction of the EU’s Court of Justice.

    But that is inevitable for as long as the province remains under EU Single Market laws, and the province has to remain under EU Single Market laws for as long as the UK government continues to agree that there can be no checks and control on goods produced in the province and carried across into the Republic.

    Thanks to Theresa May and Boris Johnson, the both of them and their supporters.

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      January 1, 2022

      So a “real unionist” is only someone who believes that the world is 6,500 years old.

      That gives us a useful yardstick, so thanks.

      1. Peter2
        January 1, 2022

        Where did Denis say that?
        You making things up yet again NHL?

      2. Denis Cooper
        January 2, 2022

        I think this example provides a useful yardstick of the declining quality of your comments.

        1. Micky Taking
          January 2, 2022

          It started at a pretty low point anyway!

  51. LJONES
    January 1, 2022

    Wouldn’t it be good to see the word ”WILL” instead of ”SHOULD”?

    Happy New Year to you and yours – and thank you for your steadfastness and commitment.

  52. KB
    January 1, 2022

    Sir John, I trust that you have noticed that a large majority of the posters here agree with your policy list, but do not believe there is any chance of them being implemented by this government.
    I am of the same opinion I’m afraid.

  53. Newmania
    January 1, 2022

    I see, cut every kind of tax, spend a lot more, sort out your Brexit /Ireland mess by ignoring it and cure Covid by a process of “Putting it behind “….. Sounds good to me , stick a saveloy and a pickled egg in with that and I`m sorted.

  54. rose
    January 1, 2022

    Do you think VAT should also be removed from repairs and maintenance to existing houses?

  55. Micky Taking
    January 1, 2022

    OFF TOPIC….but a comparison between observance of laws in France and UK. BBC WEBSITE.

    A total of 874 cars have been set alight during New Years Eve celebrations in France, police say.
    However, the interior ministry said the number was much lower than in 2019. Authorities also reported a rise in the number of people stopped and detained.
    A curfew to tackle Covid-19 meant no significant disruption took place this time last year.
    Car burning has effectively become an annual event in French suburbs since riots in 2005 in several cities. Some 95,000 police and gendarmes were mobilised during recent New Year’s celebrations, French media report – including 32,000 firefighters and security personnel.
    In Paris, where face masks have been made compulsory again, 779 people were fined for not wearing a mask.

    1. Micky Taking
      January 1, 2022

      A small step to boost car production in France and Germany.?

    2. Bill B.
      January 1, 2022

      And in England, where there is no outdoor face mask mandate, people went out to celebrate the New Year and enjoyed themselves. And quite right too, and good for the beleaguered hospitality industry. But that was your point, Micky, wasn’t it?

      1. Micky Taking
        January 1, 2022

        You could also infer a reason why desperate economic migrants risk everything to voyage to a safe haven, cost free after a deposit paid to criminals, from such a lawless EU leading country?

  56. Original Richard
    January 1, 2022

    “The government is trying to encourage people to improve energy efficiency and change their ways of heating homes, so they should not be taxed for doing so.”

    Yes, it does seem odd that the government is taxing the very items needed to improve the insulation in our homes and thus reduce energy consumption and costs.

    Evidence I think that the Marxist Britphobes at BEIS have other reasons for the country’s unilateral dash to net zero other than simply achieving net zero CO2 emissions by 2050.

    The Net Zero Strategy will be deciding government policy in all areas.

  57. DOM
    January 1, 2022

    Blair. Scraping the very bottom of that rat excrement filled barrel

    The Queen’s tainted by this personal award though one suspects she’s merely rubber stamped this deliberate act of politics designed to signal loyalty from this PM for Blair’s service to State authoritarianism.

    VILE

    reply Not a proposal of the govt

    1. Micky Taking
      January 2, 2022

      then by who?

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        January 2, 2022

        Er, The Queen, like.

  58. Iain gill
    January 1, 2022

    I see that the government is proceeding with more wheezes to allow ever more Indian nationals into the country, repeating the new labour mantra of rubbing our noses in immigration. Don’t expect any support from the people of this country who now just regard the political class as traitors.

    1. Will in Hampshire
      January 1, 2022

      Agreed, this is yet more immigration madness. Having observed a very clear expression of opinions about the unrestricted immigration of Europeans in the 2016 referendum, Ministers seem to have drawn the bizarre conclusion that the problem was the sort of people not than the quantity of the people and have hence decided that everyone’s going to be intensely relaxed about lots of visas for Indian nationals instead. Frankly, the mind boggles, especially as this is going to happen in parallel with the extended “evacuation” of Hong Kong nationals eligible to repatriate to nations within the United Kingdom.

      I’d be interested in our host’s view on this point. Right now I think that policymakers are not thinking in line with the majority point of view on net immigration to England and the other nations that make up the UK.

  59. DOM
    January 1, 2022

    An admission by the EU that the future isn’t wind and solar. That energy gap can only be filled by nuclear and gas

    —-

    EU proposes ‘green’ label for nuclear power and natural gas

    If a majority of member states back the proposal, it will become EU law, coming into effect from 2023.
    4 hours ago 16,780 Views 35 Comments

    Updated 1 hour ago

    THE EUROPEAN UNION is planning to label energy from nuclear power and natural gas as “green” sources for investment despite internal disagreement over whether they truly qualify as sustainable options.

    https://www.thejournal.ie/eu-proposes-green-label-nuclear-power-natural-gas-5644153-Jan2022/

  60. forthurst
    January 1, 2022

    I think rescinding the General Data Protection Regulation would be rather more beneficial particularly
    for organisations which weren’t supposed to be snared by it than taking VAT of heating controls which
    are essential components of a central heating system and in the case of the programmer often incorporated into the boiler itself.

  61. Micky Taking
    January 1, 2022

    Can I urge all you right-thinking people to find the Petition to have ‘the Blair’ barred from a gong in this year’s awards?
    When I signed it was at 80,000.

  62. Iain gill
    January 2, 2022

    The videos on the web of police in Scotland on New year’s Eve are shocking to say the least. That British cops can think this is acceptable, regardless of the nonsense from the politicians above them, is sad in the extreme. Etc ed

  63. Paul
    January 6, 2022

    Absolutely agree with you. I wish it would all be done. If the cabinet genuinely care about the country they hopefully read this blog and will use it for ideas / direction / priorities.

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