The case again against higher National Insurance

I reproduce below my latest article for Conservative Home

 

Let me have another go at explaining to the Government why they must remove the National Insurance tax rise, and cut VAT, before the full cost of living squeeze hits in April.

I have no wish to see the country damaged yet again by a foolish Treasury orthodoxy, aided by a Central Bank lurching from being too loose and inflationary to being too tough.

It is too late now to head off the round of inflation they have helped create.Ā They both need to recognise that growth willĀ  bring the deficit down and the belated ending of money printing will start to slow inflation after April/May without further action. The hit to real incomes ahead will also slow the economy.

I have seen Treasury theory do so much damage over my lifetime. I urged John Major not to push the UK into the inevitable boom bust that the European Exchange Rate Mechanism was bound to deliver. He went ahead, triggering anĀ  inflation followed by a bust which collapsed house prices and took down many small businesses. ItĀ  cast the Conservatives out of office for 13 years.

I watched as Gordon Brown helped generate a Treasury orthodoxy that decided to correct a credit bubble they had created by a disastrous aggressive curtailment of cash and credit. This bankrupted large banks and brought on the predictable great recession. On the back of that, Labour have been out of office for 11 years so far.

Today inflation is too high. Tomorrow it will be higher, when the full energy price rises add to bills. Wage growth so far is below inflation. The cost of living squeeze will hit confidence and limit many peopleā€™s ability to spend on discretionary items, given the big riseĀ  in the cost of the basics of food, energy and the mortgage.

Some say the inflation is the result of supply-side shortages brought on by Covid, international supply chain disruptions, and the general shortage of gas in Europe. Others point to the way the Bank of England continued creating extra money, buying up bonds, and keeping interest rates around zero long after the initial pandemic shutdown.

They were right to produce a strong positive response to offset the economic damage done by the health policies in 2020, but wrong to continue money printing in the later months of last year as recovery was well set.

Whichever explanation you prefer, it all points to a coming sharp decline in the pace of growth, a big reduction in consumer spending outside the basics, and a peak or surge in inflation. It does not look like a wage/price spiral setting in given the deflationary impact of the huge energy price rises and the consequences of the most severe advanced country monetary tightening on offer.

The Bank of England has stopped all money printing, has raised interest ratesĀ  and is even thinking of money shrinking whilst the ECB plans a further ā‚¬40bn a month and the Bank of Japan carries on buying as many bonds as it takes to keep the ten year rate of interest near zero. Even the Fed, with a much bigger inflation problem than the others, is still unwisely printing more money this month. The Bank of England should give its tightening time to work before considering too much action.

The Treasury have one main argument against my proposal that we should cancel the extra National Insurance, end VAT on fuel, and cancel VAT on green products to make it cheaper to save energy at home: they say the deficit is too high so they need to hike taxes to reduce the amount we need to borrow.

I agree with them that the UK has to get the huge deficit down from the necessarily high levels to get us through lockdown. The Treasury said they could live with a deficit of Ā£233.9bn this year. I thought that was too high, but also argued it was a very unlikely outcome in theĀ  budget debate.

Now the Treasury thinks the deficit will come in at Ā£183bn, Ā£50bn lower. It is currently running more than Ā£60bn lower with just three months more to report. In that case the Treasury on its own argument can easily afford to cancel the Ā£12bn of National Insurance increase next year and forgo around Ā£5bn of VAT revenue. It will still be reducing the deficit by a large amount compared with its assessment of what was realistic last March.

I have a strong economic reason why they need to do this. Why has the deficit fallen so much more than they thought this year? It is because the economy has grown more than they thought. It is also because the Treasury/OBR model of the economy underestimates just how much extra tax revenue they will collect if the economy grows faster.

By the same token, if they insist on slowing the economy too much this spring they will collect less tax revenue than they thought. They could end up with a bigger deficit from too tough a squeeze. If people spend less on non essentials because they are squeezed, there will be less VAT. There will also be fewer service sector jobs so less income tax. There will be less profits tax from non energy businesses.

I do not want the Government to fall for Treasury austerity economics again and plunge us into another slowdown ā€“ which will lead to more self defeating cries from the Treasury for higher taxes and lower spending.Ā Of course we need to get inflation down. The Bank has now taken some necessary action to start to do that in the second half of this year.

The single biggest problem is the price of energy. The Government needs to get on with licencing and encouraging more domestic production of oil and gas, and more domestic capacity for reliable electricity supply. This is the way to address the chronic domestic shortage and to start to unwind the foolish dependence to sky-high priced imports from a continent even more short of energy than we are.

75 Comments

  1. Bob Dixon
    February 22, 2022

    Is the current governor of the Bank of England the right man for what lies ahead?

  2. Everhopeful
    February 22, 2022

    One big argument against NI is that govts can and do alter the rules at will, leaving some people short changed. ( Married Womenā€™s Stamp and such scams).
    The main argument now however is that the govt. merely withdraws that which has been paid for in advance.
    It mismanages the NI money it has extorted and then leaves the sick without care.
    And we have no choice in the matter.
    And they have increasingly given away what we paid for under threat.

    1. Everhopeful
      February 22, 2022

      The collateral damage of wanton theory is peopleā€™s lives.
      So easy for comfortable Ministers to theorise when their stash is as safe as possible.
      Because, after all, to the extent they have control, they know the future.
      So easy to get the little person to take this that or the other risky course with his limited resources.
      Resources which once lost are transferred into a bigger pocket.
      Since govts desired and obtained, by whatever means, a cruel control over our very existence.
      Is it really too much to ask that they occasionally get it right?

      1. Everhopeful
        February 22, 2022

        Sorry!
        Was not meant to be one huge moan.
        Should have been two dirges.

  3. Mark B
    February 22, 2022

    Good morning.

    It is too late now to head off the round of inflation they have helped create.

    It is so easy to blame others. They only do that they are allowed to do and mandated by parliament. If government policy is to shutdown the whole country and furlough it, then they will have to print money to pay for government decisions.

    President Bill Clinton had it right all along – <"It's' the economy stupid !" And not Net Zero, Climate Change, Ukraine or a very bad case of Chinese flu. The trouble for you lot is, you have a PM that does not do detail.

  4. David Peddy
    February 22, 2022

    Spot on as usual.
    Slowly , but Oh so slowly ,this Social Democrat government, that thinks it is Conservative, is listening
    Support for SNRs and nuclear energy .Licensing North Sea oil fields .Getting rid of Solvency 11.Appointing JRM to introduce Brexit benefiits and Civil Service reform but WHY IS IT TAKING SO LONG ? and so much effort from backbenchers and the public ?

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      February 22, 2022

      Social democracy and conservatism are not mutually exclusive.

      It’s a question of emphasis.

      1. David Peddy
        February 22, 2022

        There is an enormous gulf between truly Conservative policies and those of the wishy-washy Social Democrats/LibDems/CDU of the EU

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          February 22, 2022

          As I say, it’s a matter of emphasis.

          To the absolutist, the extremist, they are mutually exclusive, but that is not a normal position.

    2. Dan R
      February 22, 2022

      Yes, why so long? I’ve been involved with sub grid battery storage, which is desperately needed. Something which is effectively just placing containers of batteries and connecting to the grid, still has a five to ten years time frame because of red tape.

    3. Pauline Baxter
      February 22, 2022

      David Peddy. 100% agree with you.
      Particularly, ‘Why has it taken so long’. B.J. was obviously elected to ‘Get Brexit Done’.
      THAT INCLUDES, introducing measures that we are free to do on leaving.
      Covid is NO EXCUSE.
      With an effective team around him a Prime Minister should be able to implement his promises to the full.

  5. oldtimer
    February 22, 2022

    All very sensible. But it seems the Treasury does not do sensible things. That is evident in the mess that is the tangle of taxation that ensnares us all. Fiscal drag is producing billions more for the Treasury as the economy grows but creates disincentives to keep that momentum going.

  6. Gary Megson
    February 22, 2022

    Brexit has depressed GDP by about 4%, and that will continue for ever, until the sensible relationship with our neighbours which Tory zealots have ruled out is reached. So taxes have to go up, or public services have to be cut, or both. It is that simple. It’s what you Brexiters voted for, and you tell me you know what you voted for!

    1. Richard1
      February 22, 2022

      The economic test of the success or otherwise of Brexit will be the performance of the UK versus the eurozone. So far there is no evidence for your assertion.

    2. Narrow Shoulders
      February 22, 2022

      Did you not read the article before posting your regurgitated opinion? Sir John writes that the economy is producing more taxes and lower costs so taxes can reduce.

      Your are the anti-lifelogic and I claim my Ā£5

    3. MFD
      February 22, 2022

      Yes Mate! We watch in anticipation, looking forward to seeing our ā€œfriendsā€ in Europe sink in the mire they are causing

  7. DOM
    February 22, 2022

    John’s position is untenable. He constantly encourages higher public spending but rather future taxpayers foot the bill using sovereign debt rather than current ones (higher taxes) for it seems he believes that the latter policy of raising taxes will damage the electoral interests of his party.

    Surely our esteemed host can see that higher public spending merely strengthens the unaccountable, all-powerful Socialist unions and Labour’s hand across the public sector. Coupled with zero reform of their political machine the civilian population is facing on onslaught from all sides

    John’s very own policy prescriptions are dragging us all into a Socialist hell simply because he believes cutting off oxygen to the unionised public sector (reform and cuts in budgets) will expose his party to propaganda attacks from the Left’s attack dogs at the BBC and across the left that now feed off us all like rats on a carcass

    The solution is massive State reform, cut state spending, slash taxes and take the economic and fiscal hit and to hell with the interests of political parties who use state spending to buy electoral loyalty

    The interests of all parties are in conflict with the interests of the civilian population. They have become our foe not our protectors

    reply Why lie about me? I have proposed substantial ways to cut spending and reform the state.

  8. Lifelogic
    February 22, 2022

    Exactly but not just the 2.5% NI (both) but also vast other tax grabs and regulatory burdens.

  9. Lifelogic
    February 22, 2022

    Rather more than 13 years with the dire coalition and what a complete disaster the Blair/Brown years were. Yet Major did not even ever say sorry. Why on earth did Thatcher appoint this dope as Chancellor?

  10. turboterrier
    February 22, 2022

    Sir John
    It is hard to actually put the finger on what is wrong with this government. Whether it is fear, ignorance, incompetence or just shere bloody mindness but they don’t seem to be united and have the ability to listen.
    Non stop talk and very little else. There are now too many areas of our lives that they are falling down on with no signs of improvement on the horizon. A lot of the answers are sitting behind them.

    1. rose
      February 23, 2022

      One of the problems is that the modern Cabinet is far too big. How can anything important be properly discussed in Cabinet with that number of people?

  11. PeteB
    February 22, 2022

    Following recent article is by an American economist about the USA. His comments on resolving the current economic mess apply just as well in the UK and Europe as there:

    http://www.mauldineconomics.com/frontlinethoughts/when-tools-stop-working/

  12. Sharon
    February 22, 2022

    One wonders, is it incompetence? Or is it deliberate? Is it to prove that Brexit is a failure?

    The treasury and the BofE seem no better than Fergusonā€™s modelling. So is it deliberate or incompetent? They seem not to listen to suggestionsā€¦ why not?

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      February 22, 2022

      Today’s NFU conference will demonstrate graphically that brexit is a failure.

      The facts of everyday life will do so continually.

      There is no need for anyone to mount any kind of campaign.

    2. Peter Parsons
      February 22, 2022

      Brexit doesn’t need any help proving it’s a failure, it’s perfectly capable of doing that by itself.

      1. Peter2
        February 22, 2022

        What are your parameters for making that statement Gary?
        Growth
        Employment
        Inflation
        Export deficit
        Something else?
        ps
        hef and bill
        I am referring to current figures
        as I presume Gary is too.

      2. Nottingham Lad Himself
        February 22, 2022

        We posted the near-same independently.

        I wonder how ever?

  13. Andy
    February 22, 2022

    Stop blaming the Treasury. The Treasuryā€™s job is to enact government policy – however damaging that policy is. (See also Brexit).

    We know this cynical Tory tax has been imposed for one reason. Most old people donā€™t pay NI – and most old people vote Tory. You imposed a tax that didnā€™t hurt your own voters but will affect everybody else. Contemptuous.

    1. middle of the road
      February 22, 2022

      +1 Andy

    2. Nottingham Lad Himself
      February 22, 2022

      It is.

  14. Stephen Reay
    February 22, 2022

    No one wants to see high interest rates just fair rates. Collaping the housing market wouldn’t be such a bad idea as prices are far too high caused by ultra low rates,help to buy and lack of new houses beening built.
    The BOE left it too late to raise interest rates and kept on printing funny money ,it was obviously to many commentators on this site that the BOE was going down the wrong route. This is all the Conservatives government fault.

  15. Sea_Warrior
    February 22, 2022

    Might I wander off-piste to plant an idea: that all functioning democracies of the world should now leave the WTO, set up a ‘Free WTO’, and leave Russia, China and other dictatorships cast adrift. There is an element within your party – the spivs – that favours free trade above all other considerations. They do not much care if it makes stronger those who wish us harm.
    P.S. Back on-piste: I’ll salute your continued identifications of deficit forecasts being wildly inaccurate.

  16. Shirley M
    February 22, 2022

    I am very worried for the poorer sections of our society, especially pensioners, the ill and the disabled as they are less able to augment their income with an additional job, or overtime. Rough times ahead, which could mostly have been avoided if the government (and preceding governments) had been better managers and secured our energy production instead of killing it off and forcing us into unreliable and expensive ‘renewables’.

  17. Wokinghamite
    February 22, 2022

    The N.H.S. and social care improvements are desperately needed: the money has to come from somewhere and cannot be obtained without pain.

    1. Mickey Taking
      February 22, 2022

      what NHS improvements? – they barely do a basic job after being thrown more Ā£billions every year, fewer referrals, few ops, fewer staff…..

      1. Wokingham
        February 22, 2022

        By “N.H.S. improvements” I mean various essential items including ones discussed recently on this forum, e.g. on 16 February. They include paying for COVID, making inroads into the huge backlog of operations, better and more cancer diagnosis, improved technology, procuring extra staff, easier access to G.P.s, etc.. The N.H.S. is not in good shape at present, when, in fact, we were led to expect it would get better as a result of Brexit. Saving money is only smart if it is done without damaging people’s lives.

        1. Mickey Taking
          February 23, 2022

          None of that is down to Brexit – all reaction and over-reaction to Covid.

  18. Narrow Shoulders
    February 22, 2022

    As with the Covid lockdowns and other previous ostentatious initiatives, the Conservative policy dog is being wagged by the National Health Service tail.

    Your government is so desperate to show they are doing something visible on NHS waiting lists and Social Care that sound reasoning is jettisoned in favour of visible action – much the same when we had to save OUR NHS by shutting down the country.

    This operational and political behemoth needs to be cut loose and be run at arm’s length and with user contributions.

  19. Andy
    February 22, 2022

    Sometimes it is always interesting to re-read old political speeches to see how well they have aged.

    Ahead of the referendum David Cameron warned of the threat of a newly belligerent Russia. Warning that whenever Britain turns its back on Europe it was forced to get back involved, Mr Cameron said the EU had been a force for good. He said: ā€œCan we be so sure that peace and stability on our continent are assured beyond any shadow of doubt? Is that a risk worth taking? I would never be so rash as to make that assumption.”

    Accusing him of predicting WW3 a Vote Leave spokesman said: “Claims that leaving the EU and taking back control would somehow lead to war smack of desperation.ā€

    Two years after Brexit and as the Russian tanks already roll into Ukraine, perhaps Mr Redwood can tell us why his side got it quite so embarrassingly wrong – again.

    Remember Brexit voting folks when this war worsens it will be your grandchildrenā€™s generation whose blood will be spilt. Some of you will be going to some of their funerals. Howā€™s your vote working out for you?

    Reply Russia invaded and took Crimea, and invaded and unsettled Luhansk and Donetsk in 2014, long before Brexit!

  20. Richard1
    February 22, 2022

    Thanks good summary. We could be nearing ā€˜no change no chanceā€™ point.

    Good news the govt are going to reform the EU solvency 2 regs which hamper the insurance industry. We need much more of that. Need to be relentless in the pursuit of competitiveness, growth and investment.

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      February 22, 2022

      Competitiveness?

      Do you think that with the price of a home being often scores of times a typical annual wage that workers are overpaid, then?

      1. Peter2
        February 22, 2022

        Look at Nottingham on well known property websites NHL
        I found 1,453 2 bed homes for sale on one site starting at Ā£65,000.
        1,249 for sale if you put Ā£150,000 as a minimum price.

        1. Mickey Taking
          February 23, 2022

          and in Cardiff….modern 2 bed flats going for max of Ā£150k. Two hundred of them on a famous national website.

  21. Donna
    February 22, 2022

    You’d almost think the (pro-EU) Treasury officials WANT the UK economy to tank ….. and are doing their level best to ensure it happens. (Hint: they do. Since Brexit didn’t result naturally in the dire consequences they predicted prior to the Referendum, they are deliberately causing them).

    The question is why is the Government deliberately destroying the Conservative Party’s reputation/credibility as the Party with a bit more economic sense, when compared to economy-wrecking Labour?

    Sunak appears to be a slimmer and more media-savvy version of Gordon Brown.

    1. Hope
      February 22, 2022

      Brown and Darling have better economic records than the socialist Tories. Debt and deficit much higher after 12 years of Tories claiming it was the central plank at election time! These fools make Brown look good.

      Reply Brown and Darling took over a good economy with relatively low borrowing in 1997. Osborne took over an economy wrecked by Labour’s Great Recession and banking crash.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        February 22, 2022

        Oh, well if the financial conditions of 2008 were Labour’s fault, then the high fuel prices today must be the Tories’, eh?

      2. Mark B
        February 23, 2022

        In 1997 it is said that John Major left Tony Blat a bottle of champagne and 21 red roses. In 2010 the Labour party left the incoming coalition government a note. It said, “Sorry, but there is no money left.”. Not even enough for a bottle of mineral water and a pot plant.

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          February 23, 2022

          And by what factor has the national debt increased since 2010?

        2. Mickey Taking
          February 23, 2022

          This time the note might be ‘Carrie, Boris and Rishi threw it in all directions, but only the vaccine was any use’

  22. Dave Andrews
    February 22, 2022

    I have a better way to reduce the deficit – shrink the borrow and waste state.

    1. BOF
      February 22, 2022

      D A. +1
      And put some of that money into growing the Defence Force back to size. We are going to need it!

  23. James1
    February 22, 2022

    The Treasury and BoE prescriptions are threatening to kill the patient. In the economic equivalent of a slow motion car crash. How best to get them to listen and reverse course is indeed the issue.

  24. Ian Wragg
    February 22, 2022

    There is no case for tax rises whilst we have the money to spaff away on idiotic projects like HS2 or failing to extract our own resources a d increasing the tax take.
    Sunak is a lib dumb chancellor pretending to be a tory.

  25. Lifelogic
    February 22, 2022

    Sir Iain Duncan Smith:- Boris has done ā€œsweet FAā€ to cut EU red tape and make the most of the boost Brexit landscape.

    Rather worse in fact as they have spewed out even more red tape and this on top of expensive unreliable energy by policy, ever bigger government and very high and vastly increasing taxes.

    It is the economy stupid and for that we need cheap energy, small government, light well directed regulation and low simple taxes. The complete opposite of what is being delivered by Suank/Boris/Carrie.

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      February 22, 2022

      Sir Iain Duncan Smith has done ā€œsweet FAā€ to identify EU red tape that he wants cut or to say how to make the most of the “boost Brexit landscape.”

      Maybe there isn’t any and so he hasn’t a clue?

      1. Peter2
        February 22, 2022

        You didn’t read very far NHL
        Last year he highlighted 1000 measures to reduce red tape through his task force on Innovation Growth and Regulatory Reform.

  26. R.Grange
    February 22, 2022

    Supply side shortages were caused by lockdowns and by a policy of quarantining workers ‘testing positive’. This has been well documented, especially as regards container ship bottlenecks in US West Coast ports, so there is no excuse for not knowing about it. The shortages were not ‘brought on by Covid’, but by politicians’ insane overreaction to a cold virus. The policy direction was badly wrong, and the consequences have already hit hard and will get worse. Blaming them on a virus disease deflects the guilt from where it belongs.

  27. alan jutson
    February 22, 2022

    As has been said many times before, the more the Government takes and wastes from the people, the less the people have left to spend themselves, and what they have left to spend on themselves, much of which are essential purchases, are also being hit by rising prices.
    Taxes increasing, fuel, gas, electricity, oil increasing, mortgages and rents increasing, Council tax increasing, water rates increasing, food costs increasing, Insurance of all sorts increasing, borrowing, long and short term becoming more expensive, thus the very basics of life rapidly rising in cost, thus actual disposable/choice spending will reduce and the economy will shrink, because wages and pensions are being left way behind.
    What is the incentive to invest, work harder or smarter, when all you are doing is working for the Government, and not yourself.
    Thus the economy will shrink !
    What a depressing future, and this from a so called Conservative Government.
    Even more depressing, the other Party options are even worse, with promises of even more Government control and higher spending and even more higher taxes.
    Covid is not to blame for this, as that was a relativity short term expense.
    Government policy is to blame, and failure is rife !

    1. Mark B
      February 23, 2022

      . . . all you are doing is working for the Government . . .

      Which, when you think about it, might well be the plan.

      šŸ˜‰

  28. Rhoddas
    February 22, 2022

    Well said Sir John, everyone should
    also write to their MP until the penny drops on energy and VAT/NI.

    It still feels like banging one’s head against a brick wall, but we’d be totally lost without you.

    1. Mickey Taking
      February 22, 2022

      with are basically lost WITH him too !

    2. glen cullen
      February 22, 2022

      Agree Rhoddas, and also remember it was a manifesto committment

  29. agricola
    February 22, 2022

    NI is a tax on emplpoyment. It dis incentivises both employee and employer. It may have started as a tax for a purpose, but has long been income tax with a convieniently distracting other title.

    Most of us know that increased commercial activity by the private sector is the way to increase national income. Lower taxes are a way to encourage this. You have been saying this for a long time. Now is the time to break the BoE and the Treasury orthodoxy, the leftovers from EU membership and to lay down the building blocks for a singaporean future. Is there an apetite for it in government.

  30. John Miller
    February 22, 2022

    The Conservative Party is our only defence against the Loony Left. Unfortunately, on economics and tax it is equally bonkers. Can we please have some Conservative policies.
    We have a record breaking – in high tax terms – Chancellor, who says he is low tax! We have a Prime Minister, who is not averse to begging when his personal finances are shot, married to a champagne Socialist who believes in the fairy stories spouted by men who strangely became very rich.
    I find myself pleading for someone sensible to get a grip.
    I understand we have to wean ourselves off fossil fuels as we are not creating any more. I agree nuclear is the way to go, but I’ve been reading science fiction for nearly 70 years explaining that. What do politicians read?

  31. Original Richard
    February 22, 2022

    ā€œI have no wish to see the country damaged yet again by a foolish Treasury orthodoxy, aided by a Central Bank lurching from being too loose and inflationary to being too tough.ā€

    The only way to explain the policies of the Treasury, and indeed BEIS (Net Zero Strategy) and the Home Office (ā€œborders are a painā€) is by adopting Robert Conquestā€™s second and third laws of politics :

    – Any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left-wing.

    – The simplest way to explain the behaviour of any bureaucratic organization is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies.

  32. Original Richard
    February 22, 2022

    There used to be the joke :

    ā€œIt doesnā€™t matter for whom you vote, the Government always winsā€.

    Now it seems that when it comes to major issues such as taxation (Treasury), climate change (BEIS) and immigration, legal or illegal (Home Office/ā€borders are a painā€ Border Force) It doesnā€™t matter which party wins, the policies never change.

    So whoā€™s in charge and making the decisions?

    Our elected representatives in Parliament or the Permanent Secretaries/civil service?

  33. Julian Flood
    February 22, 2022

    Tax the wind farms. Announce very generous compensation for all residents affected by onshore fracking, including free gas for those within five miles of a well head.
    Cancel HS2. Do not sign advance contracts for further EPRs – the UK taxpayer is already paying to revive the nuclear sector in France and will be paying over the odds for Hinkley C until 2060. (Sack whoever negotiated that.)
    Impose minimum capacity factor of 90% on renewable schemes – cost of balancing the Grid because of their instability last year Ā£2,600,000,000.
    JF

  34. formula57
    February 22, 2022

    We must all now brace for this summer’s Sunak Slump.

  35. Aden
    February 22, 2022

    14 trillion pounds of off balance sheet pension debts.
    John, can you afford your Ā£600,000 share?
    Can you afford this years Ā£60,000 increase in the debts?
    Can Mr Min Wage afford it?

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      February 22, 2022

      How many times?

      They are no more debts than are future car insurance payments or grocery shopping bills debts.

  36. rose
    February 22, 2022

    I wonder what Enoch would have thought of Jacinda Trudeau freezing private people’s bank accounts, presumably egged on by Biden? I remember his visiting Bristol University and trying to give a speech arguing against the then Government’s proposal to seize drug dealers’ assets, but the occasion was broken up by the Socialist Workers Party. Reading the speech later, it could be seen he was arguing from first principles as he often did. And what would he think of the same measures being extended to Russians here? The alarming thing about the Trudeau punishment is that it is being meted out by the banks to law abiding little people, merely on suspicion of donating to the lorry drivers, with no due process, and no appeal. Perhaps that is where Enoch saw the practice going.

    1. rose
      February 22, 2022

      From RICHARD STEVENSON
      Director of Health Economics and
      Lecturer, Department of Economics,
      University of Liverpool:

      “Enoch Powell drew attention to the provisions of the Drug Trafficking Act 1986, which similarly breach one of the most fundamental principles of natural law by
      reversing the onus of proof from the accuser to the accused. The property of convicted drug offenders can be confiscated unless the defendant can prove that it was purchased with legally acquired funds.
      Mr Powell’s fear was that once a principle has been breached, the breach will almost certainly be widened. His prediction was rapidly confirmed in the
      Criminal Justice Act 1988 which applied the same principle to other serious crimes which result in proceeds in excess of Ā£10,000.”

      * J. Enoch Powell, The Drug Trafficking Act versus Natural Justice, London:
      Libertarian Alliance, 1987.

      The other thing which contravenes natural justice is that Trudeau’s punishment of the little people has been retrospective: what was legal at the time is being punished by autocratic decree, over the head of normal Parliamentary democracy. Brenda Hale principles. Something which is going on there which is happening here too is that the [rigged?] opinion polls are being taken very seriously by Government, rather than Parliament.

      Isn’t someone here like the Foreign Secretary supposed to call in someone from there like the High Commissioner to give an account of what is going on? There is silence from the Commonwealth and from the UN. And Parliament was suspended on Friday too.

    2. Mark B
      February 23, 2022

      +1

  37. X-Tory
    February 22, 2022

    You are spot on with your economic analysis, as usual, but one statement does baffle me. You say: “I do not want the Government to fall for Treasury austerity economics again”. But surely the Treasury does what the Chancellor tells them to do, or are you effectively saying that Sunak is so weak and stupid that he has been turned from master into slave?

    In either case (whether the current policies are Sunak’s own or whether he is too weak and stupid to resist his mandarins) surely you need to openly and loudly declare that you have no confidence in him and demand a new Chancellor? Why continue to support this imbecile of a chancellor who is destroying our economy and making us all poorer? Surely your duty to your constituents and to the country as a whole is to force him out, by whatever means necessary?

  38. Pauline Baxter
    February 22, 2022

    Oh how I agree with you Sir John.
    I’ve said before that you would make a better Chancellor of the Exchequer than any I can remember.
    There again, you also seem to have far more sense, about how to get the U.K. truly free of mainland Europe, than it’s present Leader.

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