In the summer I and a few others warned the government and advised the Truss campaign that then economic policy was going to take us into recession. Official forecasts from the budget said otherwise. I argued that we could change policy to seek to offset some of the recessionary forces coming into play. If the Bank with tight money combined with a treasury hiking taxes, and a concurrent inflation squeezing real incomes, there would be a sharp downturn.
Liz Truss centred her campaign around the need to boost the UK growth rate, and to abate the recessionary forces. She was right to do so, and it proved the more popular cause. The establishment she was battling now accept that their policies will lead to a recession, with the Bank forecasting six quarters of misery and slowdown. Despite this they still are keen to put up taxes. As a result they face public  borrowing this year 75% higher than their budget forecast, confirming the warnings I gave that this year unlike recent years the OBR borrowing figure would be far too low after periods of massive overstatement. Borrowing remains most sensitive to whether you get growth or not. Slowing the economy deliberately gives you higher borrowing, not less.
What we can agree on is the UK state needs to do a better job at controlling public spending. I have issued lists of ways of getting spending down a bit, whilst improving both spending and performance levels in key areas like health and education. I see in a recent poll ending spend on HS2 and reducing Overseas Aid are the two most popular ways of getting spending down a bit from the issues raised. There are plenty of other ways. It is imperative that more of these public sector pay disputes are settled with something for something settlements, allowing better pay for smarter working. Above all the government should get on with the changes to help many more people into work. There are still plenty of vacancies and people of working age who could be better off if assisted into work.
January 5, 2023
Good morning.
I see Rushi is out stating the bleeding obvious. ie Inflation will come down etc. Well of course it will. I will come down in height if you chop me off below the knees.
The country really is not in good hands. Inflation (15%) is eating away at peoples spending power and that will in turn put a drag on any recovery.
I would not rely on Labour messing things up if you think that is only way you can win a GE.
January 5, 2023
++++
ButâŠbutâŠthe maths will help!
Definitely!
1+1= uuuuum?
It would be SO EASY for them to win if only they had half a grain of sense between them.
January 5, 2023
Battle over recessionâŠ.hmmm. There was no battle. Sunak and Hunt were resoundingly rejected for their views on running the country. Tory MPs imposed them on us against our will and against the direction we wanted.
Recession Self induced by Sunak and Hunt. Corporation tax, capital gain tax, windfall tax, inheritance tax, income tax all hiked to be higher than close neighbours to be less competitive while forcing a recession. Worse at the same time both gave Spain contract to build our warships!! Fitting out under EU laws, tariffs, regs, rules!
That is not a bad decision it is a traitorous one to deliberately hinder GB business while helping EU.
All the talk about Ukraine and nothing, absolutely nothing about giving away N.Ireland! Vassalage your Brexit MPs and PM called it. Coercing DUP MPs to force them to cave in to EU protocol demands! What do you call it JR?
January 6, 2023
I disagree. The low tax program outlined by Truss was comprehensively clobbered by the markets.
Yes, we need growth, but this low tax agenda is a non starter at present.
Improving our dire situation, either by finding a better compromise with the EU or else getting things going with the US, is more (but not very) plausible.
Besides, we voted for this. Low growth was always going to be a consequence of Brexit. we are simply returning to our former state as the sick man of Europe, I really don’t see what the problem is.
Reply The Bank put up interest rates and lost control of LDI regulation which damaged the markets
January 5, 2023
Nobody is listening. The government will plough on regardless for as long as it has got.
January 5, 2023
From what I heard it was as though someone should have been giving his speech to him. He kept on about innovation, but socialist societies such as his preferred one, with high taxes, innovate less. Ireland has low CT, first 3 year CT holiday, R & D tax credits which match the one he’s talking of watering down or removing. His taxes are anti-innovation.
January 5, 2023
Don’t worry Mark. I think all parties are demonstrating they are equally clueless and will all adopt a “tax lots, borrow lots, spend lots” strategy. The UK (and much of the western world) will ultimately be bankrupt.
In some brave new world in 15 yrs time we may see small government, with capitalism given a chance to rebuild wealth. Alternatively we’ll be heading down to developing world status.
January 5, 2023
what about ‘lie lots’?
January 5, 2023
Mark B
Agreed, but for the first time in e very long while it seems like the “bleeding obvious” is at last being considered as a possible solution to some of our/their problems, and given the stupidity and complicated thinking and policies of the past, it is at least a step forward, a small one I grant you, but at least it is a move forwards, if in only words at the moment.
January 5, 2023
TWELVE years the Conservative Party have been in power. Any time any Tory MP – John Redwood or anyone else – says “well, here is what we plan to do to solve these problems” the answer is “You have been in power twelve years, they are your problems and you obviously don’t know how to solve them or else you would have done so”
January 5, 2023
Gary, several of the problems have only cropped up since the covid pandemic closed the UK down for months on end, and unprecedented CRISIS.
Inflation rates have been held down low since the bust in 2008.
Inflation:
2010 3.298%
2011 4.464%
2012 2.828%
2013 2.565%
2014 1.461%
2015 0.040%
2016 0.660%
2017 2.683%
2018 2.478%;
2019 1.791%;
2020 0.851%;
2021 2.588%.
2022 9.052% approx.
So over 13 years average inflation of 2.673%.
In fact, in Nov 2020 there were newspaper articles about suggestions to charge people for holding money in bank accounts if the BOE cut the base rate from 0.1% to 0% for the 1st time in its 326 year history.
The NHS is mainly funded from general taxation and NI contributions and patient charges (prescriptions/parking/private rooms in NHS hospitals) There are also more services that used to be free that have now been transferred ear checks, eye checks, dentistry). Here is the significant funding increases England: https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/nhs-in-a-nutshell/nhs-budget. May gave the NHS the ÂŁ300m on the side of the bus but covid wiped all that out and more.
January 8, 2023
So over 13 years the prices have increased by 40% (1.4085=1.0267^13).
Questions are: have salaries increased by 40% in 13 years? And have pensions increased by 40%?
By quoting 2.673% (somewhat ridiculous to put three âsignificantâ digits after the dot) one might possibly show one could have benefitted from Rishiâs âmaths till 18â.
January 13, 2023
Perhaps I should have given you my source Hefner. https://www.rateinflation.com/inflation-rate/uk-historical-inflation-rate/
All inflation rates are calculated using the UK Consumer Price Index (CPI) series.
RI is an information and reference site, providing educational content and resources about the consumer price index and inflation. Find the latest and historical inflation rates for various countries.
I’ll pass on your comments about them benefitting from a maths till 18.
January 5, 2023
ah but you have to want to solve them!
January 5, 2023
John Redwood has not been in ‘power’. He only has a vote like every other member. The best he can do is advise.
January 5, 2023
Mark, it’s not only inflation eating away at people. It is the constant talk of doom and pessimism. Even Amazon is axing 18,000 jobs due to ‘economic uncertainty’.
January 5, 2023
M,
Snakeâs pledge of halving of inflation is still over double what it should be 2%! He said last year it was transitory. Does he need to take extra maths and English lessons?
In 2010 Tories claimed economy was their central plank and would balance structural deficit and start paying down debt by 2015. Later pledges of 2017, 2019 and 2021 then abandoned. Snake says judge us by what we do. 13 years on the debt has tripled! I think we can safely say they failed. Same for 2019 manifesto no tax rises! Same for immigration. They claimed to cut to tens of thousands, last year 1.2 million visas issued! 46,000 illegal immigrants housed in four star hotels. Again, Sunak has failed. He was chancellor he was part of govt and policy.
JR, maths question for Sunak, would it have been cheaper to put 13,000 alleged bed blockers in four star hotels than 46,000 illegal criminals?
January 5, 2023
Hope
What irritates me about the word ‘transitory’, certainly in relation to inflation, is that it meant to be temporary. Inflation is NOT temporary, it is ongoing. It is just the levels at which it moves. They talk as if it was a passing rain shower, it isn’t ! It is a loss in someones ability to pay for food, heating, rent / mortgage etc. And the man responsible for all this inflation is the same man that is in Number 10 lecturing us on how to use numbers.
Show me a Socialist and show you a hypocrite !
January 6, 2023
++++++1
I think the maths part was an arrogant me better than you comment. If he looked in the mirror he would see utter failure in analysis and failure in integrity. Both of which he lectures us on. I have judged his party by what they do against promises and they utterly failed in every regard. Cameronâs biggest achievement gay marriage!
January 5, 2023
The most relevant comments are those that Sir John chooses not to publish, I’d say.
It’s his site, though.
January 6, 2023
I think one should say that he is generally very ready to give room to views that challenge his own. That is, I think, to his considerable credit
January 8, 2023
GM, Agreed.
January 5, 2023
Liz Truss had some very sensible ideas she was poor at defining them.
Putting corporation tax up in a recession is stupid so is reinstating the ban on fracking when we are short of energy
The obvious reason seems to decrease investment and price energy out of reach of the peasants in the name of net zero.
Fishys speech was a joke. No idea, no vision RIP conservative party.
January 5, 2023
He’s also dissed Truss’s childcare ideas which would, precisely, get more people into work. ÂŁ5k per month off pre-tax income for childcare bill to look after twin 2 year olds in outer London in a fully regulated nursery, with holidays to suit the child minder, won’t encourage many to return after maternity.
January 5, 2023
Ian
Liz Truss MP announces that we are going to frack for gas.
US Interest rates go up shortly before the mini-budget and, amongst other things, puts the economy in tailspin.
Liz Truss MP ousted as PM, Rishi Sunak MP replaces her, cancels fraking whilst announcing we will be importing US fracked gas.
Hmmm !
January 5, 2023
+1
Sunak knows it makes no difference if Labour were in office. Both now wedded to be in lockstep to EU.
January 5, 2023
Both now going to implement the Balkanisation of England!!
January 6, 2023
Yes, indeed, Hope, “Take Back Control” in its new usage means Take Back Control To Brussels. Each of the leadership coups – against Corbyn, against Boris, and against Miss Truss was to this end.
January 5, 2023
Read that first line, normal people.
January 5, 2023
Yours are usually funnier!
January 5, 2023
There are still plenty of vacancies and people of working age who could be better off if assisted into work.
Yes there is, but instead of assisting make them have no choice but to work, stop giving out handouts to the work shy , back in the 70s when I was unemployed I had to take the job offered by the job centre it was either that or no benefits, and another way of saving a few quid stop the channel taxi service and the 4star hotel accommodation for foreigners, youâve only got a few months to turn it around before your put in General Election footing
January 5, 2023
Assisting can mean many things. Some people may need help with skills be it learning new ones or refreshing old ones if they’ve been out of work for a while (often due to no fault of their own).
The Home Office under Patel boasted of marvellous packages to assist into work all those thousands they boast of bringing here. Why is it a sin for the natives to expect some help??
Back in the 1970’s businesses hadn’t been given a global pool of cheaper labour to employ via mass immigration.
While we do have some that are work shy, many are not and it angers me to see them being labelled as such.
There are a myriad of reasons for being unemployed and they are not all down to a person being work shy, and getting back into employment is very hard indeed.
Ever tried volunteering your labour for free in this country??? Dear God you’d think they’d snatch your hand off, but it’s like your applying to join MI6. Then there are ‘agencies’ who many have experienced as being there to put you off applying for jobs or deciding there and then you can’t apply regardless of what’s on your CV and/or relevant experience.
January 5, 2023
I was listening to Richard Tice who explained there are now 5 million on unemployment benefits and a further 2 million on in work benefits. This is not affordable but hidden from the public. When are they going to be forced into work or their benefits stopped?
The ÂŁ4 billion annual budget for illegal immigrants is obscene. The Rwanda scheme is a non starter and is for only a couple of hundred illegals. Your Government have had years to sort this out but refused. Is it the membership of the ECHR, then get out of it. This is an emergency but your Government just gives platitudes and no one is ever deported. Why not?
HS2 when no one uses the trains is stupid.
Your Governments non existent energy policy and international interconnectors is holding us all to ransom. When is the Northern Ireland protocol being rescinded? Nothing is being done by your Government and everything is failing except higher taxes. Try and get hold f anyone in officialdom is a nightmare. From the tax office to the Councils, they are not answering their phones, all working from home as your Government refuses to get them back to work.
January 5, 2023
+1 Timeaction. Right on all counts.
January 5, 2023
To make HS2 work and have passengers the Government will buy huge office blocks close to Euston stn, and similarly in Birmingham. Free office space will be provided to businesses that show close relationships between London and Birmingham.
More than one way to skin a cat.
January 5, 2023
“This is not affordable but hidden from the public.”
Suella Braverman and Liz Truss both mentioned it in their leadership bids, Mrs Braverman with more emphasis.
January 5, 2023
It all comes under the W word waste.
Government and civil and public services it would appear have no compunction to address it in any shape or form. All very good for telling their themselves that all they need is more money. It is not what you get or have got it is how where, what who, why, when it is spent.
If they were sensible and brave enough they could have made a united stand against the dingy invaderssnd saved millions. Every position in the civil and public services should be judged on one thing and one thing only. Is this position really necessary? Working smarter not harder should be the basis of our education system.
Assisted into work? If benefits for not working were reduced to below minimum wage levels then people would get off their fans and get back into the job market.
January 5, 2023
The two words that come to mind are “Prioritise” and “Cut”. Sitting here in retirement, it is easy to be critical but I also know that it’s very hard (when faced with seemingly insurmoutable problems) to see a way out of them. With hindsight there are often only three or four things that need to be done in practice to kick start improvements. We can argue the merits of ‘Diversity Managers’ till the cows come home – but are they essential? The answer is that organistions seemed to get along quite well before their invention, so the answer is probably – No. What their existance does indicate is not “Wokeness” – but a lack of priority.
I hear complaints from various parties that the Public Sector has been “cut to the bone”. Well, I worked for companies that really did cut back year on year and whilst it was painful (and very hard work) those companies survived, albeit in slimmed down form. They focused on their core services and other things had to go.
We need to accept that if we wish to retain our ‘core’ services, we have to give up the non-essential ones. We cannot afford luxuries. Nothing to do with Austerity – everything to do with Reality
January 5, 2023
One problem is that most have a different view from what smart is. Take the NHS , An A&E Dr posted on facebook a cry for someone to reverse the problems in A&E. The approach in the UK is old fashioned and blinkered. How many people say they are going to the Drs , when in actual fact they are requiring help from the whole of the NHS including many professions. To go through an A&E , there are clerks , lab staff , porters , managers ,physiological technicians, Nurse , Drs ,radiologists , HCA’s Nursing assistants . The whole system has slowed down at the same time occupancy has more than doubled.
January 5, 2023
Yes, Margaret and some of the proceedings have really sped up.
Going for a mammogram, no queues, fast turnaround, efficient friendly staff.
Going for a lung x-ray, in and out in minutes.
A local phlebotomist who starts at 0730am in the local clinic (much better than the 3-hour wait at a local hospital treated like cattle not so long ago) it is a great service for fasting blood tests; very efficient, friendly and careful in her work.
People only ever talk about the worst aspects; there are also some significant improvements and efficiencies.
January 6, 2023
Why should we need so many waiting in queues for blood taking in the first place, . In Primary care the medics should take their own bloods. I consult in the same time and take bloods why cant they?
Why should practitioners in general medicine act like consultants simply sitting behind a desk and handing out jobs to everyone else. They forget they are practitioners! Why have 2or 3 visits to investigate when one will do . Excuse is time! give them a few more minutes. The phlebotomists will still have work,
January 6, 2023
I never understood the local infirmary phlebotomy service, you used to go from 8 am and it was first come, first served, so many people used to go and stand there from 7 am by 8 am the queue was 1.5 hours in.
The nurses were in one room, three side by side; they never staggered tea breaks all going at the same time; by 1030 you were feeling faint and irritated and then they disappeared. No small talk, sit down; you should have already had your sleeve rolled up when your number was coming around, plus the ÂŁ3 – ÂŁ6 for the car park that was jammed up because there were so many waiting. As I said, things have greatly improved with one simple change.
January 6, 2023
the vampires of Bracknell introduced an appointment system during shutdown ..etc.
I used to be in queues that could be 15 long for 1 or 2 operatives. The system stayed and is superb, rarely more than 3 there, probably arriving early, they say to sit in car until within 5 minutes of appointment. Oh, and the staff are excellent, you can be stabbed and bruised by a GP if you want, not me.
January 5, 2023
What about the triage and reception dragons?
January 5, 2023
Margaret.
Part of the problem is that it is not simply accidents or emergencies which are clogging up A&E departments.
Anyone and everyone seems to be turning these days.
Perhaps time to triage properly at the entrance door, and only let in those who qualify for A&E treatment.
Where are the small injuries departments for the less severe problems which do not require Scans, X rays and a whole range of consultants.
January 5, 2023
Good morning Sir John
âWhat we can agree on is the UK state needs to do a better job at controlling public spendingâ
As many commentators have been saying all along, we need an economy to create the money and wealth to fund the State first. Remove money from those that create the economy to just simply reward the State for being there is a ridiculous proposition. That is ensuring an ever decreasing pool of available tax money.
Above all we need a Government to stop being in denial, stop refusing to manage, they are there to manage the money(tax) they grab and ensure a return on that expenditure. So far we have seen in all yours and everyone else’s request for expenditure/returns breakdowns being fudged twaddle from a Government that demonstrate they do not have a clue.
This is still the Boris Johnson spend, spend, spend Government. Spending is a headline grabbing sound-bite, which is a reaction to no action on the real things that need doing. As we saw of this PM yesterday, just trying to re-enact BJâs clueless utterances, because to someone somewhere they might buy it and of being centre stage is being a PM in Government. When what the Country needs is proper Management.
January 5, 2023
“what the Country needs is proper Management.”
Illegal immigration.
Open an airfield in Kent. Patrol the beaches with drones. Collect the illegal immigrants, Put them in the airfield in temporary accommodation. Fly them straight back (if they have lost their passport) to Albania. this would deter many of them.
January 5, 2023
It does make me wonder how Calais got away with 2000 in squalor in tents. Nov 21 the Guardian tells us it is still there.
The refugee camp became notorious in 2015, as 1 million people fled war and danger to come to Europe. Years after it was demolished, 2,000 migrants are still waiting there, at the centre of a political storm. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/02/life-death-and-limbo-in-the-calais-jungle-five-years-after-its-demolition
January 5, 2023
+1 Anselm
The illegal criminals should be out of the country within two days. If I arrived in e.g. China illegally how long would repatriation take?
January 5, 2023
irrespective of nationality would certainly work!
January 5, 2023
Why does everyone fail to tackle the issue courageously. No, we don’t do any of that, put a line on the boats and take them back to close the the French coast with just enough fuel to take themselves to land.
January 6, 2023
Anselm, this works only if other countries agree to accept their return. And they do not. So please would you stop coming out with this “just send them back” nonsense – we can’t just send them back. It is our problem, no one else’s. End of story. Except to note also how this country can only solve big problems like this by co-operating with other countries – if only there was some bloc in Europe that fostered mutually beneficial co-operation
January 5, 2023
Spot on and the frightening thing is no one is buying it yet the completely detached Sunak keeps churning out the same rubbish and Sir J R steadfastly refuses to tell us why the government is unable to get our money spent more efficiently. I guess we all know the answer and he is too embarrassed to admit it.
And in related news we read that Sunak who probably doesnât even know what a child care cost is, being so wealthy has squashed suggested reforms that would have made a difference to millions of families. Sums up the Tories, Party of the rich, dump their mistakes on the poor.
January 5, 2023
Would have made a difference to millions of families at a cost to millions of taxpayers.
There is no divine right to go out to work and staying at home to look after the kids while going without is not the end of the world.
Childcare should not be subsidised by the taxpayer except Primary and Secondary education
January 5, 2023
Well you just end up with millions of people at home on benefits instead of out working and paying taxes some of which might be relieved for childcare costs. It’s called an efficient society.
January 6, 2023
Depends on the net cost I suspect.
Childcare v benefits. Just assuming we should pay the childcare while they are getting other handouts leads increased childcare costs for all and to the mess that we are in now. The law of unintended consequences.
It is more nuanced than “just pay it” it comes down to what costs the taxpayer the least.
January 5, 2023
Are there really that many on benefits who would be better off in work?
Once on the gravy train there seem to be endless benefits..beyond the imaginings of the tax payer who also pays full price for everything.
January 5, 2023
The British State no longer serves the purpose it is meant to. It no longer protects but seeks to subjugate and demonise those it views as a ‘problem’. Progressives have taken over this country and John expects the taxpayer to finance this Maoist, Neo-Marxist rabble? Get real Mr Redwood.
We all respect John but he knows there are now forces at work in the west that we have not seen for centuries. This forces doesn’t seek privacy, freedom and tolerance but subjugation, control and enslavement
The Tories have chosen their path and it’s a path that it causes significance cultural, social and psychological damage
January 5, 2023
DOM,
Hello. Your posts have usually been forthright and rather angry. Your views are succinctly expressed and you avoid multiple posts on the same topic.
Over the past year/past few Prime Ministers, I have noticed many other posters have become just as forthright and angry. (Though some offer multiple posts on the same topic.)
You are no longer an outlier.
January 5, 2023
Government civil and public services need to change from the end of year rush mentality of spending all of their budgets on the assumption if it is not spent, it will automatically be reduced the next year.
Cost saving measures should be rewarded not ignored and be perceived to be punished. Individuals who submit the proven financial changes and savings should be rewarded. If an idea saves across the department saves ÂŁ250k award them with a ÂŁ5k holiday or other big incentive.
Are Suggestion Schemes still in existance? In the private sector many were replaced by team working and rewards systems.
Those who work smarter and identify and reduce areas of waste deserve rewarding if for no other reasons to encourage others to participate.
January 5, 2023
It is pretty wasteful to send ÂŁsquillions to a country many had never even heard of before blue and yellow became a thing. Expensive way to poke oneâs nose in unnecessarily.
All âdiversityâ spending is not only unpopular but a total rubbish waste.
HOW much on Net Nuffink?
HOW much on 4* hotels?
But then, I guess the deeper in hock we are the easier we will be to control.
January 5, 2023
Why would people want to get out of bed to go to work when they can get more on benefits? It doesn’t help matters when they are constantly given extra money to help with the cost of living. They don’t even have the expense of getting to work that people paying taxes do. Life on benefits should not be better than working. My sister who is single works very hard on minimum wage and has only had the council tax rebate to help her while those around her not working have had loads more. Stop being an over the top socialist government.
January 5, 2023
+++many
And they could just try listening to and reflecting upon what people tell them.
They have overseen, created even, a black economy based on OTT benefits ( if you âqualifyâfor one then you cop the lot) and appalling âcharitiesâ which aid and abet many pocket-lining scams.
January 5, 2023
FuS
Indeed and this applies further up the wage scale as well, on working credit or universal credit and it seems like a golden key to many more benefits, rebates, subsidies, discounts, etc etc.
Is it any wonder that many who are struggling (like your family member) also ask, what is the point of working and trying to manage, when other’s earning more than me are getting additional help !
January 5, 2023
You warn, you propose good policy and you offer sound guidance and this useless government does not waiver from its destructive course so we brace ourselves to endure the Sunak Slump.
January 5, 2023
How refreshing and enlightening to watch a programme on the TV last night about the fight back by the Ukrainian people against the Russian invasion.
The underlying united spirit of ordinary men and women coming together to push the invaders back. Not all sweetness and light but everyone with the one thought, to save their country and their own future.
Somehow cannot sĂše that taking place over here in given the same circumstances. Over the years all these woke and green save the world groups have all but destroyed our national identity and pride in our country. Maybe that is the biggest underlying problem of the gimme state we have created. It infects every sector of life in this country today and its like a cancer it grows and is destroying us. Never mind globalism get back nationalism.
January 5, 2023
Meanwhile, TT, in another TV programme Ukrainian journalist Diana Panchenko gave a voice on the NewsOne channel to people in the Donbas area, who said how they live there and what they think about what is happening. The Ukrainian SBU (state security police) have now brought a criminal case against her just for doing that.
We in this country have been funding BBC Media Action’s Ukraine mission since 2014. This body is a signatory to the Perugia Declaration in support of Ukraine’s journalists, so let’s hope the BBC speaks out loud and clear to condemn how this woman is being persecuted.
January 5, 2023
‘… and people of working age who could be better off if assisted into work.’ I’m comfortably off and have no need to work – but am fit enough to do so, should I wish. But if I take a job:
(1) My marginal rate of tax would be 40%.
(2) I would have to pay NI.
(3) If I spend any of the leftovers, VAT then takes about 20%.
(4) And any money that I don’t spend, and leave in the bank, will be subject to inheritance tax.
And that’s why I’ll spend much of the day preparing for my next batch of holidays.
P.S. There’s an urgent need to sort out pension fund size limits. It’s been a factor in causing one of my relatives to stop working before 60 and will be the reason why another will stop on reaching that age. (Both pay a lot in income tax.) I’ve no problem with the idea that tax-relief on pension contributions is capped.
January 5, 2023
Then avoid 40 percent and IHT Set up your own trading company (preferably not in GB) or use VCTs to reduce tax and put earnings into Trust. Just saying.
January 5, 2023
‘There are still plenty of vacancies and people of working age who could be better off if assisted into work.’
The public sector needs cutting down to size! At the start of lock downs it was reported that our county council had placed 60% of staff on furlough, but they still ran.
Huge cuts can and must be made. This will provide the manpower to fill the vacancies above.
January 5, 2023
Rishi’s five point plan:- 1. Halve inflation 2. Grow the economy 3. Get debt falling 4.Cut NHS waiting lists 5. Stop the small boats. So this is the complete opposite of what you did as Chancellor under Boris then with currency debasement, vast borrowing and the endless waste of lockdown? So why the change of plan now Sunak have you finally come to your senses?
The real five point plan should be 1. Scrap net zero and the intermittent expensive renewables lunacy. 2. Get fracking and go for cheap on demand energy. 3 Cut taxes hugely to sensible levels and slash the size of the largely parasitic and generally inept State sector. 4. Make the UK a competitive place to live and work not a good place to leave & Allow high skilled & legal immigration only return all others. 5. Sort out the mess that is the NI protocol.
January 5, 2023
Yes LL, all good alternatives. I do not believe Fishy meant a word of what he said!
January 5, 2023
It is quite obvious that the Government deliberately caused a recession and is deliberately making it worse than it needed to be.
It is also quite obvious that the Government has deliberately destroyed the energy security we used to have and is deliberately ramping up the price of energy in order to force people to use less of it. (That is the EU’s stated policy, which we are following). The Net Zero policy is intended to impoverish and CONTROL us; it has nothing whatsoever to do with “saving the planet.”
No-one watching Sunak and yesterday could be under any illusions. He is no Leader. He is a dreary, personality-free, pretty-boy number-cruncher in Number and is not working in the interests of the British people. Nothing he had to say yesterday was credible; he just made more “promises” to take actions which we have heard repeatedly for the past 12 years ……none of which have been delivered.
The Great Reset continues …. and we’re still in the destruction phase.
January 5, 2023
+1
He changed the law last month for boat people! What a Memory, eh.
January 5, 2023
Thereâs also a new law being considered to stop the government from being sued!
January 5, 2023
Donna. I am afraid you are correct.
January 5, 2023
I’m sorry, but all hope is gone with this lot in charge. They couldn’t make a worse job of it if they tried (maybe they already have!).
Grab a few competent housewives and business owners off the streets to govern us. They’d do a better job!
January 5, 2023
I’ve had a great idea. Given the next Leader before the General Election has to be a Conservative M.P. and Conservative M.P.s have made Conservative Party members redundant in the process, I can suggest an improvement to the process. An improvement that can get a new Leader within a day, that will stop the trade among Conservative M.P.s in ministerial jobs in exchange for their support and will end up with no worse a choice (and if lucky a better choice) than 3 of the 4 most recent Prime Ministers. What can this better system be? Next time round Conservative M.P.s might as well just draw lots among themselves for the job of Party Leader and Prime Minister!
January 5, 2023
Government is not a popularity contest where you choose the policies from Twitter that people like most.
Benefits and pensions should not rise by inflation, they should rise by average wages.
Gas and electricity subsidies should cease. Cut the link between gas generated electricity pricing and renewables instead,
Pay the NHS for doing not being.
Cancel HS2 – there is a bridge being built in Denham which has taken two months to extend less than 100 metres. When I visited Thailand for two weeks they built one mile of overhead highway in two weeks. This is why the costs are so high.
Civil service diversity jobs can go.
Foreign aid can be spent on hotel accommodation here plus all processing, resettlement (or preferentially repatriation) costs. We could also pay the French police out of foreign aid for how many dinghies they capture which will save money in the long run.
Abandon net zero and all the subsidies that go with it.
Reduce taxes where payment is pretty much discretionary and aim to give PAYE serfs some respite ASAP too.
January 5, 2023
I understand that this Tory government is considering reducing the motorway speed limit to 64mph to help reach their net-zero targets …they’re losing the plot, welcome the brave new world of 1984
January 6, 2023
a long stretch of the ‘smart’ M4 towards London has been 60 for yonks….seems permanent – metal signage.
January 8, 2023
And the âsmartâ M4 is supposed to adjust its speed limit with the volume of traffic. Going to LHR around 11pm and going back to Reading after midnight during the Xmas break the speed limit on the M4 between the exit for Slough and the M25 was 60 mph with practically no traffic.
And it was a similar story on the M23 between the M25 and LGW.
In comparison, bits of roads out of Montpellier that the French Government had moved from 90 to 80 km/hr around 2018 have officially gone back to 90 km/hr at the beginning of 2022. Could it be that the French âgilets jaunesâ are better listened to by their Government than the âlions led by donkeysâ of this country are by theirs?
January 5, 2023
Flogging a dead horse JR.
I think we are dealing with an extraordinary phenomenon.
The State has legal personality of course, but now letâs admit itâs a Narcissist.
No Responsibility.
Unaccountable.
Not subject to the ârulesâ or laws.
Saying whatever needs to be said in the moment to âwinâ an argument with no thought of recorded evidence. Lying as a modus operandi in other words.
Attaining the prime aims âmoney, fame or infamy either will do, attentionâ.
No self-awareness.
They view others as âutensilsâ – so no âloyalty to the `British peopleâ for instance, boat people will do.
This is because the personality is itself âhollowâ – has no politics!
No wonder individual narcs do so well in politics, they fit the modern mould perfectly.
How does the poor victim, the British people, battered, bankrupted, abused and destroyed, survive?
Only one way we are told. Withdraw totally from the narc.
Ayn Rand – here we come, where is John Galt?
January 5, 2023
Yes LA, we are all victims now.
January 5, 2023
Alastair Heath in the Telegraph describes it wellâŠâ Brexit was an attempt at forcing the establishment to tackle our decline, but so far political parties and the Blob have acted as a cartel to maintain the status quo.â
Theyâve certainly done that!
It must be as frustrating for you, JR, to speak to deaf ears as it is frustrating for us to watch.
As Liam Halligan described Sunakâs 5 points, some of it was like promising better weather in June⊠itâs going to happen anyway. Is it Sunakâs lack of vision, poor advisers, or this cartel and the blob at work? Why will they not take advice from people such as yourself?
Somethingâs got to change and fast!!
January 5, 2023
First of all we should get away from this word ‘recession’ – it is just a term to describe the economy not doing so well – it is not the end if the world.
Another thing about recession it could be a good thing in the grander scheme it will make us sit up to take note to think more clearly about where we’re at and where we want to go?
So there is nothing wrong with a bit of belt tightening – if the economy has to slow well then so be it – but don’t borrow more for government to waste – just cut out what we cannot afford – HS2 etc etc. This is the way J run my household no debts – if J want something new I first of all save up but more importantly I can sleep good at night.
January 5, 2023
Totally agree. HS2 should have stopped ages ago
January 5, 2023
+1
January 5, 2023
I forget which American President said that the election result was “It’s the economy, stupid.”
As I sit here in my cold room carefully ensuring darkness to save power (which, miraculously is still there), and not using the car because of petrol prices, I am terrified that if i fall over, I shall die in/waiting for an ambulance.
I speak for very many people. And I am retired! Were I running a shop or a business, I should be very concerned indeed.
Do something positive:
Fracking, coal mining, reduce the 5.25 million public sector employees,investigate the senior managers in the NHS who, as you noticed, are performing appallingly…
And then, as you notice too, there is inflation…
January 5, 2023
The thing that amazes me is that we can train a doctor to PHD level and with experience he/she is saving lives or at least making them more tolerable. Do the same with an economist, put them in positions of responsibility and we end up with blood all over the floor. It is a very flawed profession, an inexact science with more theory than practicality. The Met office does infinitely better for us in a very volatile latitude. We would better start from the position that money must represent something very real rather than the casino that governments around the World have put us in. They have done it to fund their political ambitions and at the end of the day it is every member of the population that picks up the tab.
Not only are many of governments ideas flawed, but their conduct of them financially and productively is out of control. Government activity is largely responsible for the counties low productivity. Private enterprise goes bust when badly run, government has no such restraints. The worst current example is HS2. Cancellation could cost more in compensation and removing a scar to rival the trenches of WW1 than completion of an unwanted project. The profligacy of government is limitless. They are the leech on enterprise and the enterprising individual. Our government cannot even mark their success with smooth roads to drive on.
January 5, 2023
So, if HMG is not following sensible guidelines, just who or what are they following?
Current establishment policies will lead to a crumbling economy, unemployment and more national debt than can be imagined, but they are not going to change or the globalists will kick up a storm and we’ll be looking for a new PM.
With the next GE approaching quickly, there is only one avenue for Tory MPs who do not go along with the globalist ambitions of our establishment – Make a move to the Reform party, for they have real conservative policies.
January 5, 2023
I’d rather Richard Tice move to the Conservative Party. Ben Habib. Would they even get through selection, that is the problem.
January 5, 2023
They would not get on the candidates list!
Nothing wrong with Tory Selection committees.
January 6, 2023
you have got to be joking? So how do the dim compliant sheep make it to be PPC? Are the local members really that stupid to select what they do?
January 8, 2023
Tice moving to the CUP? You must be kidding, after the 2019 GE when the Brexit Party essentially removed its candidates to help the Conservatives. And what did they (the BP) get out of it?
January 5, 2023
âA government always finds itself obliged to resort to inflationary measures when it cannot negotiate loans and dare not levy taxes, because it has reason to fear that it will forfeit approval of the policy it is following if it reveals too soon the financial and general economic consequences of that policy. Thus inflation becomes the most important psychological resource of any economic policy whose consequences have to be concealed”
Ludwig von Mises
January 5, 2023
For instance – Net Zero….
January 5, 2023
The proposals for change were and are entirely helpful to deliver improvement.
The fault is that of the obstructive Govt presently in power which acts as if an enemy is in control. That enmity seems intent on causing the nationâs destruction gradually in the hope of not being noticed for what it is, yet is rapidly gaining momentum.
The Conservative Party has become contaminated. That is where the change is needed.
January 5, 2023
Rishi – 1. Halve inflation 2. Grow the economy 3. Get debt falling 4.Cut NHS waiting lists 5. Stop the small boats
Does Rishi not have any interest in cutting the 500-1500 excess deaths we have suffered recently each week caused almost certainly by vaccine damage. long Covid (perhaps) and NHS treatment delays and negligence?
Or is he only concerned with fiddling the NHS waiting lists to get them “down”?
January 5, 2023
This view that the vaccine causes exceptional damage is not just nonsense but dangerous nonsense. All vaccines create rare adverse reactions and Covid is no different. If you perpetuate this myth, at least provide some evidence or shut up.
January 5, 2023
P,
There is plenty of evidence from experts. You do not need to look far.
Interesting article in con woman today about security services not monitoring as it used to do but spreading propaganda to block alternative views! If correct our country is on the wrong path led by the wrong people.
Well said LL. you are spot on.
January 5, 2023
It is now law in Australia that doctors cannot say anything against the covid vaccine or risk being struck off.
January 6, 2023
We used to recognise ‘village idiots’ now we have scientific experts.
January 8, 2023
LL?
January 5, 2023
Check out the Yellow Card Reports. And the VAERS (American system); EUdravigilence (EU system) and AEFI (Australia).
The safety record is appalling.
January 5, 2023
They canât hide the deaths – and the excess deaths and massively falling live birth rates would be investigated except that they know the cause. The Establishment will not even publish the number of âsudden deathsâ fully vaccinated.
Look up Ed Dowd, his book is a statistical argument and I would be interested to hear your opinion when you have some facts.
January 5, 2023
It reminds me of Matthew : 5 loaves and 2 fishes and lots of hungry people.
Richi is promising all this within 1 year – all he needs is many millions of willing people to wait and see!
January 5, 2023
LL, excess deaths does sort out the NHS waiting list doesnât it?
January 5, 2023
The PM has got to stop taking us for fools and insulting our intelligence as he did yesterday with that speech. There was nothing new and all he did was to underline that he and his administration have done absolutely nothing since moving into No10. As you have explained Sir John they have made the country’s position significantly worse.
It is not surprising that we are heading for a long recession as only 4 or 5 members of the Cabinet have any relevant business experience, several have questionable business track records and the rest are administrators learning on the job. If a large company was being run in the same way the country is currently being managed, there would be a queue of Administrators camping on the front doorstep.
The PM is clearly not up to the job of running the country and while he is in office we will lurch slowly down hill into financial obscurity
January 5, 2023
Recession and depression were inevitable from the moment you and your colleagues voted for the disastrous lockdowns. We were already heading in a bad direction but it was obvious shutting down all commerce would kill even a very fit economy. Now we get to watch you all claiming that you warned of the problems. Please do me a favour. ALL of our current problems were created directly and absolutely by Westminster and it’s master (the WEF).
January 5, 2023
The recession is deliberate and intended to be permanent by the fifth column communists in Parliament, the Civil Service, the Educational Establishment, the Judiciary, quangos and other institutions.
Remember it was the communists in the last century who caused the deaths of tens of millions of their own people with false ideologies and this century they intend to destroy the West using the false CAGW/Net Zero ideology.
There is no catastrophic global warming caused by anthropogenic emissions of CO2 and in fact as plant food we need more CO2 in the atmosphere to grow more food.
Net Zero using Chinese supplied wind turbines and solar panels to provide expensive and intermittent electrical power coupled with Chinese supplied expensive and impractical heat pumps and evs is unworkable and unaffordable. There simply isnât even the mining capacity to produce all the minerals required for batteries, motors, generators and distribution grids.
January 5, 2023
The problem you have, Sir John, is that nobody in Government is listening, and the establishment thinks that the only tool in their box to defeat inflation is higher interest rates and a recession !
January 5, 2023
None so deaf as those who donât want to hear đ«Ł
January 5, 2023
And this should be read in the context of only a couple of days ago, Sunak crumbled to the Blob and ditched proposed Civil Service reforms.
Do we believe his comments on migrants? Again only a few days ago the Permanent Secretary of the not fit for purpose Home Office, was knighted as a reward for this utter shambles.
And how are we, who pay for all of this rewarded, higher taxes, poorer service.
Some animals are truly more equal than others.
January 5, 2023
Third post from me today. Still a long way to catch up with Life Logic and on subject. I read that one Department had five new Secretaries of State last year and I guess many more had multiples.
Obviously from a poor gene pool to start with. so one can only guess at the quality now. These appointments are political, rewarding friends, keeping enemies in sight etc, certainly not to do with talent or experience.
So we have multi billion pound businesses run by novices, it is no wonder the (so called) professional Civil Service runs rings around them.
And even worse the politicians are in total denial that they and their system is causing the problem.
January 5, 2023
But departments are not run by the novices! Most ministers are there to be no more than the parliamentary mouthpiece for their departments, whose policies barely change, even when there is a change of government.
Only the strongest ministers actually manage to change policy, and when they do, the policy soon reverts to the establishment norm when the minister is replaced. We have seen this recently with the cancellation of Nadine Dorries’ plan for the sale of Channel 4 and JRM’s proposed bonfire of EU laws.
Even Prime Ministers struggle to set a different direction – look what happened to Liz Truss.
January 5, 2023
I was utterly underwhelmed by Sunak’s “Vision” – but there again the wider Conservative Party saw this coming but they were sabotaged by a collection of Remoaner MPs.
To be brutal – this government is rudderless and will hit the rocks at the next GE unless there is a change of leadership to somebody who has both the vision and the actions to grow the economy.
January 5, 2023
CAGW does not exist and itâs economy destroying unilateral Net Zero Strategy is not designed to save the planet but to cause permanent recession and by electrifying heating and transport with expensive and impractical heat pumps and evs to ensure that everyone can be individually controlled via their smart meter.
January 5, 2023
Truss was the wrong person to advise . Our overall borrowing rate was too high and combining this with the timing factors at the time concerning the economies of the USA , China and the Ukraine dilemma exacerbated the conditions we now face . Managing our way out depends on tough decisive leadership ; Truss – from what I was able to discern , lacked these skills . I fully agree that public borrowing is far too high and has to be drastically overhauled and reduced in part of the solution approach . The Conservative Party will not be able to survive another leadership re-shuffle .
January 5, 2023
From the MsM and not what some want to hear. – https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/01/05/rishi-sunak-news-latest-policies-nhs-inflation-strikes-education/
“A Labour government would introduce a Take Back Control Bill to devolve power away from Westminster and spread prosperity across the United Kingdom, Sir Keir Starmer has announced. ”
“Delivering his first major speech of 2023, the Labour leader accused the Tories of engaging in “sticking plaster politics” as he called for a focus on delivering long-term fixes to the nationâs problems.”Â
“He promised a “new approach to politics and democracy” as part of a “decade of national renewal” as he attempted to take ownership of the famous “Take Back Control” Brexit slogan. ”
“Sir Keir said it was “not unreasonable for us to recognise the desire for communities to stand on their own feet” and that is “what Take Back Control meant”.Â
“He said Labour would “embrace the Take Back Control message” and “spread control out of Westminster” by devolving new powers.”
The Conservative Government over the last 12 years(the same for the previous Labour administration) have been thrashing around looking for a purpose. All been playing at being everyone’s Local Council with their Centralised indoctrination of a one size fits all mentality and failing.
Everyone of them has failed and has refused to accept that people can use their own money better, organise their local communities better and provide local needs better. If only the Central Polit Bureau butted out the Country would be in a better place.
To much Government noise that is then compounded by no action all headed up by the refusal to even attempt to manage. I sincerely worry about Labour, I find them a weird lot, but measured against today’s Tories what has any of got to loose, when as above they are at least showing a token of recognising what is wrong
January 6, 2023
What has any of us got to lose? You ask.
Don’t you worry Labour will break up England as they tore away Scotland with their devolution? It seems they were the biggest losers in that.
Just some of the things they and their unions want to control by nationalisation,
then we just have to take what we’re given.
They’ve sounded off about wealth taxes; we’ve seen how those work with the Tories’ ÂŁ1.5m pension pots allowed, now reduced to ÂŁ1m (except in the public sector because they don’t have pots) frozen allowances causing years of fiscal drag.
Local councils are often predominantly run by ex-teacher/public sector councillors who only know how to spend money, not save it, make it and grow their local economies. Their bad investments get bailed out by ratepayers often just those over band D because their collection rates at the lower bands are poor.
January 5, 2023
Until the PM & Government get serious about reducing the cost of government, we will go nowhere as a country & the conservatives are headed for a long spell in opposition. Cut the number of Civil Servants by 80%, cut all Quango budgets by 75% now, & start living within our income. We have not done so for the last 20 years. As a private citizen, I would be bankrupt by now if I spent more than I had earned for 20 years. It is no good tinkering around the edges, cutting a bit here & there, it needs a complete change of attitude & approach. Sadly I see no sign of that from this PM & Chancellor. In 2019 I voted for Brexit, a small government & low tax party. Instead, we have a socialist government that can’t stop spending & does not even know how to!
January 5, 2023
I did same, and think the same. However if the mandate is not binding then elections are redundant. The Ukrainians voted for Zelenskyâs mandate of no NATO membership and friendly relations with Russia. Look at what they got!
We need to hold our government to account or we could end up very unlucky like Ukraine!
January 5, 2023
If growth is to be encouraged, then reduce Corporation tax NOT increase it. We need to encourage businesses to grow. Increasing taxes for the higher paid is not going to encourage people to work harder, or to keep our high flyers in this Country.
This government seems to reward those who donât work, if thereâs jobs they should be taken, it used to be, if refused – no benefits.
Migrants- stop putting them in 4/5 star hotels, 3 meals a day and pocket money. Who wouldnât come here for this? Itâs encouraging them. Reward businesses and those who work.
I think Rishi is out of his depth and/or is intent on wrecking the economy and losing the next election. An 80 seat majority has been squandered and a good PM (Boris) deposed. What is he up to? I really donât trust him, I have to wonder who he is working for and what his priorities are.
January 5, 2023
This is the Globalist WEF UK Establishment agenda. YOU are irrelevant. You will have nothing but you will be happy!!!!!!
January 5, 2023
A Tory critique of Starmer today is that he gave “no detailed plan to secure the future prosperity of Britain” who is this party spokesperson? Because I’d like him or her to tell us what Sunak and Hunt’s detailed plan is to secure Britain’s future prosperity.
When it comes to wasting our time what was all that C4 privatisation work for three years if not just a waste of time.
Michael Gove is currently giving local areas more power, the North East has just been given a massive transfer of power, so what the heck is Starmer going on about? It terrifies me that Labour will take the North. Have you seen the state they leave Liverpool, Stoke and Manchester in? I was pleased the Tories took over Stoke things started changing there for the first time in years. The failing schools, the failing investment decisions. Their idea is to target people in their area who do well and keep building businesses there, with higher and higher taxes much higher than council tax bills in posh Southern regions.
January 5, 2023
With Starmer having a board on his lectern saying âa fairer greener futureâ I switched of and said no!
I will not vote for those who tell lies, Starmer/ Sunak – both tarred with the same brush, working for the destruction of GREAT BRITAIN. I will be fighting with little ability I have, i will not go like sheep !
January 5, 2023
MFD :
Agreed.
At his CBI speech last November Sir Starmer promised âclean power by 2030â and claimed that âclean British power is nine times cheaper than imported fossil fuelsâ
He is as completely delusional as the current Government and why no existing Party currently in Parliament should be anywhere near the levers of power.
January 6, 2023
off his trolley….but then people believe this nonsense.
January 5, 2023
Abolish the BBC ÂŁ4 billion saving pa. – They wont . That says it all.
January 5, 2023
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/04/james-dyson-eu-common-agricultural-policy-subsidies
James Dyson
Letter to the Guardian
“My family and I are farmers, not landowners. We have invested ÂŁ120m, in addition to the cost of land, bringing long-term capital, technology and employment into British farming. Dyson Farming produced 70,000 tonnes of cereals and 16,000 tonnes of potatoes in 2022, plus out-of-season strawberries, which avoid the food miles associated with imported alternatives. Our anaerobic digesters generate electricity for 10,000 homes, and the farms sequester more carbon than they emit.”
January 5, 2023
Makes JRâs case for him really. We MUST have more farming to be Green.
January 5, 2023
Recession there will be but dim Sunak doesn’t understand what that will mean – national debt will go up – growth will be negative. With spiraling wage settlements and more fuel price increases in April plus higher mortgage interest rates, inflation won’t halve this year. With a nurses strike and more flu and Covid hospitalisations this winter, hospital waiting lists are unlikely to go down – and who or what is actually going to stop the boats crossing the English Channel or alternative illegal means of entry? Five politically idiotic promises – I expect he’ll keep only 1 or 2 of them. Then he commits to teaching everybody Maths up to age 18 without any real prospect of getting enough Maths teachers (apart from which it is Arithmetic and perhaps Statistics that is important, not the mostly theoretical maths that is taught in secondary schools). As Del Boy might have said what a ‘plonker’ the Prime Minister is! Get him replaced this year before everybody can pronounce on the non-fulfilment of his reckless, idiotic promises!
January 5, 2023
Chickpea : âAn 80 seat majority has been squandered and a good PM (Boris) deposed.â
Borisâ 80 seat majority was to âget Brexit doneâ. For this he can be applauded. But for everything else he is a disaster, in particular for promoting CAGW/Net Zero :
The 80 seat majority was not to ramp up our unilateral Net Zero Strategy to ruin our economy and energy security by restricting supplies of cheap, abundant, reliable and storable fossil fuels with expensive and intermittent power from Chinese supplied wind turbines and solar panels.
Nor was he elected to bring forward the ending of the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 10 years from 2040 to 2030.
Nor was he elected to tell the UN that the UK was responsible for the extinction of life on the planet when he told them :
âWe started this Industrial Revolution in Britain: we were the first to send the great puffs of acrid smoke to the heavens on a scale to derange the natural order.â
Thus setting in motion claims for reparations and much else.
Boris had to go.
January 6, 2023
Maybe the first to send ‘the great puffs of acrid smoke to the heavens’, but then the USA and Ruhr joined in, more recently China eclipses it all!
January 5, 2023
”I see in a recent poll ending spend on HS2 and reducing Overseas Aid”
What happened about the sale of Channel-4
The list of ‘we don’t believe you’ is getting bigger ever day
January 5, 2023
The Royal Yacht Britannia Maritime Aid project alive and well – plan to build aid/disaster relief vessel in the UK without taxpayer funds. To be crowdfunded by donations and grants. (betcha the shortfall will be made from taxpayer)
https://britanniamaritimeaid.com
Just another u-turn
January 5, 2023
Here you have listed two of the most popular ways of cutting down spending like reducing overseas aid – my belief: giving aid to African countries is akin to pouring if into a hole in the ground there is so much corruption going on – the some way with the HS2 project – my belief: you don’t mean to tell me there are nof individuals creaming it? With all of that going on, with all that has gone on in the past you can hardly blame me for being a bit of a cynic.
January 5, 2023
Oh worse than that. The EU dumped Kerrygold butter in South Africa and it was selling for 50c per lb (.02p). What African farmer can produce butter for that price? So the âaidâ destroyed that farming sector.
January 5, 2023
Time to get rid of Royalty as it is – at the very least it needs to be down sized kept just for the tourists – am sick of this Harry stuff especially with all of the real problems we have.
January 5, 2023
” people of working age who could be better off if assisted into work.”
The majority of those long-term benefits recipients have worked out that they are better off doing nothing.
For benefits attract further benefits – the local council recently issued a 25-page list of supplementary benefits, discounts and free access to sport and entertainment venues available only to those who are on some existing unemployed or in-work benefit. That includes pension credit, which guarantees to those who contributed less work, income tax and NICs (or none at all) the same basic pension, to be readily topped up in their case with the other multi-benefits (which are withheld from those who contributed fully to the state pension).
That includes permanently subsidised energy costs, on top of the current temporary government provision.
Why would these folk – who have council-provided, subsidised, warm homes – bother to seek work at all?
Some rather stronger measure is needed than ‘assisting’ them into work.
January 6, 2023
We can pinpoint the moment when Liz Truss lost her premiership. At PMQs Kier Starmer asked “During her leadership campaign, the Prime Minister said that she would not cut public expenditure. Does she stand by that?” She replied “Absolutely”. People then added up the tax cuts and the energy support expenditure and the fact that the BoE was going to raise interest rates, thereby suppressing growth. They concluded that we were heading for Government borrowing north of ÂŁ200 billion in FYR 2022/23, following borrowing of ÂŁ303 million in FYR 2020/21 and ÂŁ145 billion in FYR 2021/22, and the markets were understandably spooked by the prospect.
It might have been very different had Liz and Kwasi proposed a package of public expenditure cuts.
Reply The OBR are forecasting borrowing of over ÂŁ170 bn on current policies. recessions increase borrowing and lower revenues
January 6, 2023
Sir Redwood, please tell us why are successive conservative governments pressing on with HS2?
The established facts are all well known: huge costs which will never be recovered, very little utility, huge operating costs (each trip uses 10 times the energy of a 125 train), no stations on the way, noise which makes living within 1 km a nightmare.
Yet, they all just sign on and allow costs to escalate instead of either canceling it or converting the whole project to a 125 train or even a cycle road.
January 6, 2023
Hi john
Lizzie truss was going the write way to put the country try on it feet again But the mistake she made was lowering the higher tax rate and fixing gas and electricity for two years, after all it’s the government that has increased bills by raising the cap by a large amount there for giving the power comanies more profit, the people working are feeling it worse because they have to pay through taxes for the thousands claiming benefits a d working on the side money is being throw at these scroungers
While there are some genuine people who deserve help I see it on a daily basis I can show you three couples on benefits that are in Spain for the next six weeks
Thank you