So Labour wish to run large scale investment projects better than HS 2. They wish to halve the government’s use of consultancies, reduce the use of chartered planes for government Ministers and ensure more private investment is added to state investment to boost output.
This is not going to suddenly change the growth prospects, get inflation down faster or transform public sector management. Consultancies may be due a hair cut, but you cannot say how many you need until you identify what they do and whetherĀ they are essential becauseĀ the civilĀ service does not have the skills and knowledge. Otherwise they should only be used whereĀ they are cheaper and better than in house.
Cutting down on plane use may afford some small savings though rail tickets are also dear these days and chauffeured cars do not come cheap.Ā Most of us would like to see more private investment alongside or replacing public investment. The question is does the state identify enough projects that will earn a decent return to attract the investment? Labour’s wish to impose more windfall taxes will put off some private and foreign investors, reminding them that if their investment works the government will want to pocket more of the profits.
Labour promises us iron cladĀ fiscal rules. They want to double up on Treasury forecasts and an independent Office of Budget Responsibility . They will make every decision on tax and spend dependent on a report and forecast by the OBR. They should have learned that that very system allowed a huge increase in spending and borrowing over covid when they backed government spending plans and urged more. It then led to big rises in tax revenuesĀ which they attack.Ā Chancellors have to make judgements as they will be blamed for the results. The OBR needs to amend its models so it can forecast the levels of tax revenue and borrowing more accurately than it has been able to do in recent years. We need an accurate guide to help steer the ship. How would they restore lost productivity with public sector Unions keen to expand workforces?
October 10, 2023
Good morning.
It is not what they say, it is what they will do. They have the luxury of being able to make promises, this government and your party have only your record of the past 14 years to fall on.
Disappointment all around me thinks.
October 10, 2023
Seeing the OBR is stuffed with socialists, there will be no trouble there.
Continuation of open borders, tax and waste.
Not much difference there then.
October 10, 2023
‘stuffed with socialists’ …put there by this Tory government noless
October 10, 2023
@Glen Cullen – and the practicing politics of the current crowd? So brethren.
October 10, 2023
Indeed who would trust anything the Tories promise this time we still do not have the Ā£1m IHT threshold promised by Osborne 15+ years back. Labour will be worse but voters have not real choice Socialist liars or socialist liars.
You say āWe have the best civil servants in the world ā and they saved many lives in the pandemic by working night and day.ā Well not really they and the government got almost everything wrong on Covid the lockdowns and vaccines did huge net harm. They lied about the lab leak, destroyed the economy even further with endless waste and QE inflation and they are lying about net zero too. They wasted billions on test and trace, HS2, Joke Aircraft Carriers, eat out to help out, the dire NHS anti-competitive monopoly healthcare system the net zero lunacy con trick, burning imported wood at Draxā¦ if these are the best Civil Servants then God help us.
These ābest civil servantsā even still claim on government web sites that Walking and Cycling produces no ādirect or indirect CO2ā so scientifically ignorant are they. Do these fools really think this or are they all just lying on purpose?
October 10, 2023
+1
October 10, 2023
āSir Keir Starmer will declare he has plans for a decade in power as he promises that Labour will āget Britain buildingā if the party wins the next general election.ā
How depressing but likely true one they allow children to vote! Major buried the Tories for 3+ terms. Sunak is trying to beat this record it seems.
āSir Keir will say that Labour will put economic growth at the heart of its election pitch, grabbing political territory more traditionally associated with the Conservative Party.ā When was it last associated with the Tories mid 80s perhaps.
Nothing Kier is proposing will promote growth, his vat on school fees and abolition of Non Dom Status will both do the reverse. But then Sunak and Hunt are clearly hugely anti-growth too.
October 11, 2023
I wonder, hew exactly is VAT on private school fees impeding growth?
October 12, 2023
Well would you expand your private school, invest in one or start a new one, knowing you might well have to increase fees by 20% VAT very soon. Thus finding it hard to retain pupils or attract new ones. Surely this is rather obvious!
October 10, 2023
I am sick of people having a go at our aircraft carrier force. We are an island nation and need a strong navy. Rather than decrying our carriers they should call out the government for the lack of frigates and submarines. They are all needed for a balanced fleet.
October 10, 2023
These two carriers they have build for Ā£ billions are a complete waste of money. Gross incompetence or possibly just pure corruption or both?
October 10, 2023
its not the carriers so much as the only planes they are capable of flying have so many weaknesses. the decision not to have catapults and arrestor gear was a massive mistake.
October 10, 2023
and when you leave the RNLI money in your will, like me, just remember who they are giving a lovely ferry ride to the land of milk and honey.
October 10, 2023
The contracting of the aircraft carriers was an appalling waste of Ā£ billions for a duff product that was not what was needed so was it incompetence, corruption or a mix of both perhaps.
October 10, 2023
gordon brown only issued those contracts to socially engineer jobs into scotland. that was his one and only motivation.
October 10, 2023
Well said LL i second all you say. We are told the world envy our NHS !! I wish they would take it, like all things organised by socialists , it is useless. I wish I could get my money back that I payed in over the years. Reason of my angerā my wife made to wait 17 months for treatment for a life threatening illness ! The NHS is too occupied making money for their big Pharma friends
October 10, 2023
+1 and diversity over ability, net zero over patients careā¦
October 10, 2023
Higher and higher taxes less and less of value actually delivered. Much is of negative value – HS2, net zero, net harm vaccines, the lockdown, the pointless war on a lie, the energy policyā¦
October 11, 2023
LFT testing cost Ā£100bn. LFT snother 100bn. Each less than HS2 after loss of control. Johnson’s moon shot. Sunaks folly. Starmer complained that they hadn’t wasted enough. But he’s going to rejuvenate the country by building Milton Keynes all over the countryside while bringing in enough (people Ed)to fill them. I’m glad I won’t be here to see it.
October 10, 2023
@LL – +1
October 10, 2023
LL
How I agree! +++
October 10, 2023
I listened to Rachel Reeves yesterday, she spoke clearly and made her points well; the general philosophy seemed to be right of where the PCP is and has been for the last 5 years! There were of course some loony-tunes ideas, presumably for the communist wing, but generally it was strong on fiscal realism and responsibility. Made Mr Hunt seem lacking in ideas. Our host can pick holes of course, but it’s hard to claim the PCP activities/shenanigans have been an economic success.
PS, I have never voted Labour, but I really cannot keep the current PCP in office.
October 10, 2023
@Peter Wood – Rachel Reeves, understands the subject, she’s worked in the sectors she is involved in, Jeremy Hunt has no background, and has shown he has no understanding of his subject ā just a Socialist WEF student
October 10, 2023
The fact that hunt is chancellor is one of several unfortunate results of the decision of a minority of Conservative MPs but a majority of members to select Liz truss as leader. We do not know the counterfactual but had Sunak succeeded last summer we wouldnāt have had the truss-Kwarteng balls-up and we would most likely be at least level pegging in the polls. And weād have a different and better chancellor. The irony is the Brexit supporting ārightā of the party have unwittingly brought about the probably victory of a govt which will slowly bur surely reverse brexit.
October 10, 2023
disagree Liz would have done far better than Rishi if she had been left alone to do the job. her presentation was not super slick, but her substance was far closer to what we need than the other leadership of the main parties.
October 10, 2023
@Peter Wood – ‘Jeremy Hunt has accused Rachel Reeves of peddling āfairy taleā economics after Labourās shadow chancellor set out her stall to voters in her conference speech.’
Says the Man that raised UK Industry Costs, for no reason other than to damage the UK economy causing a rise in UK inflation, a rise in bank rates and followed up by a run on the pound ā then sort to blame the rest of the World.
October 10, 2023
sought?
October 10, 2023
Apparently Hilary Benn told the conference that Labour would not take us back into the EU Single Market because that would need a new referendum which would “convulse” the country:
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/rejoining-eu-single-market-would-need-a-new-referendum-that-would-convulse-politics-hilary-benn-says-2674965
The Tories did not give us a referendum before we joined the EU Single Market and it seems unlikely that Labour would give us a referendum before we rejoined; more likely he has realised that the economic benefit of the EU Single Market has been greatly exaggerated and in reality it would not be worth the trouble.
October 10, 2023
The Benn Act was surely pure treachery and helped to ensure we ended up with an appallingly botched Brexit wasting Ā£billions in the protracted process. A shame his more sensible father could not or did not point this out in public and condemn his sons appalling actions.
October 10, 2023
Yes, and when a mere 9% of UK voters think that Brexit was done well:
https://www.rte.ie/news/brexit/2023/1009/1409698-poll-brexit/
that is mainly thanks to disloyal people like him who tried to stop it.
Civil servants as well as politicians, and we need them all to take a revised oath of allegiance:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2017/12/05/no-agreement-to-talk/#comment-905298
“… require an new oath of allegiance which specifically renounces any loyalty to the EU … “
October 10, 2023
The late viscount stansgate, aka Tony benn, had sadly died at that point.
October 10, 2023
A great shame, had he lived longer perhaps he could have prevented this appalling treachery.
October 10, 2023
@ DENIS+COOPER
Rubbish. Ted Heath – who was a Conservative – organised the United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum, aka variously as the Referendum on the European Community (Common Market), the Common Market referendum and EEC membership referendum, took place under the provisions of the Referendum Act 1975 on 5 June 1975
To our kind host’s chagrin the nation voted to join, and abandon trade with the Antipodes and other Commonwealth nations
October 10, 2023
No, that was Labourās Wilson. Heath had taken us in unilaterally. So the referendum was āto remain inā āa trading blocā.
October 10, 2023
Except that’s not true. The 1975 referendum was on whether UK should CONTINUE to be a member of the EU which Heath had joined without a referendum in 1973 abandoning trade with the Commonwealth without consulting voters.
October 10, 2023
Multiple confusions here, SG, as you can see from the Labour government’s official pamphlet for the 1975 referendum on whether we should stay in the European Community or “Common Market” – not the EU Single Market, that came later – which we had already joined in 1973 without a referendum, thanks to Edward Heath, which pamphlet was signed by Prime Minister Harold Wilson with his recommendation that we should vote “Yes”, and was delivered to every household in addition to the leaflets from the “Yes” campaign which was allowed to outspend the “No” campaign by some large factor which I would have to look up.
https://civitas.org.uk/content/files/1975ReferendumGov.pdf
October 10, 2023
@ Sakara Gold – your point is made less than robust by the facts:
– Denis+Cooper said “The Tories did not give us a referendum before we joined the EU Single Market” – recall the Single Market came into being on 1st., January 1993 and no referendum was held in the UK.;
– The referendum in 1975 post-dated by some two and a half years the UK joining the EEC, and event that happened on 1st., January 1973.
October 10, 2023
Not so. Ted Heath joined without any referendum or authority from the people. Harold Wilson was the PM who granted the 1975 referendum after were were in. I was too young to vote but would have voted leave. As the arguments of the leave people Benn, Shaw, Powell Castle were far more convincing than the irrational & mainly emotional arguments of the remainers.
October 10, 2023
Sakara you are wrong look it up. Wilson gave the Referendum.
October 10, 2023
You are very much mistaken. There was never a referendum to join the EEC. Parliament voted to do it in 1972.
Neither was Heath the instigator of the 1975 referendum, since he was no longer prime minister. Wilson was behind it, purely to avoid a civil war in the Labour Party. He pretended to have secured a “better deal” from the EEC. This was a pack of lies, the same as all subsequent so-called deals. Remember John Major, “game, set and match for Britain”? What a joke. The same with Cameron’s fake deal before the 2016 referendum.
Our entire relationship with the EEC/EU was always based on lies. I think it was Heath who said EEC membership would involve no loss of sovereignty. What a sense of humour he had.
October 10, 2023
Ease up there Denis you’re not going to rejoin they would never have you back again – never – you’re all just too much trouble. Tradesman’s entrance only
October 10, 2023
So you have said.
October 10, 2023
The reason everything is conspiring to elect a Labour government is just so that we are conjoined in the ‘outer circle’.
Kemi best get a real move on now with her trade deals and all these countries wanting trade deals need to negotiate quickly or they’ll be sunk.
Everything being:
The dissolving of Sturgeon and the SNP
The whole getting rid of Boris and putting Rishi/Hunt into position
The civil service allows and turns a blind eye to the parties then dobbing them in.
The OBR brought down Kwarteng through his inexperience being rushed into announcements and fast decisions without a counterbalance.
Co-ordinated union strikes at key points.
October 10, 2023
A Labour victory at the election will in effect mean a merger of the government with the blob. Blobbish policies will be followed at every turn. A bit more spending on more or less everything (except defence). No tax reductions of course. A reduction in tax receipts though as dog-whistle leftism, such as windfall taxes, increases in CGT or abolition of non-Dom status crush incentives. But the OBR forecasts wonāt show this of course. They will show that if you eg double CGT you get double the receipts, and just about all paid by āthe richā! So that means even more borrowing, and the way things are going in the markets probably a Sterling crisis. There will be a doubling down on fatuous green regulations and all sorts of other inane nanny-state intrusion. It will be more and more difficult to drive unless you have Ā£50k or so for a Tesla and land for a charger. At every turn the Govt will cave into the EU on any point of difference. although they say they donāt want want to be in the CU or SM I canāt think why not given they will mirror both – weād be better of in these circs just rejoining. Presumably thatās actually the secret plan.
People may moan about this government and understandably so. But Labour would be far,
far worse. Much better a 4/10 Govt than a 1/10 one.
October 10, 2023
Richard1 – You mean in the way this Conservative Government takes its orders from the ‘Blob’, refuses to manage the ‘Blob’ – so becomes the ‘Blob’ in Parliament. Those that run the ‘Gangs’ within Parliament, get to dictate to those that get paid and elected to serve the people ā on how to be a good ‘Blob’ Socialist. Its the system that is back to front
October 10, 2023
Hence the reason Richard that I propose to vote Reform UK.
October 10, 2023
You may as well just vote Labour
October 10, 2023
well why would we keep voting Tory? Madness is when you keep doing the same, but expect the outcome to be different.
October 10, 2023
Labour would do better to remain quiet about their policies and focus instead on the years of Conservative Party rule. That has served them well so far.
October 10, 2023
Footage shows Labour dancing the night away. āThings can only get betterā etc.
āLetās all have a discoā as they used to sing at football.
A cocktail is on offer – āStarmertiniā. It contains apple and lime. No sour grapes or bitter lemon for Keith.
October 10, 2023
Forget the crap being spouted at this conference. Labour have one basic, fundamental agenda, to destroy this nation as it is and once was and replace it with a world that promotes its own and its allies extremist political, electoral agenda and their own personal interests. All the weapons of the Left will be used to replace, silence and criminalize those they see as a threat or barrier and oppressive laws will be passed to destroy free speech and demonize anyone who dares to challenge the neo-marxist narrative.
Moral and positive sounding phrases will be bandied around with abandon but their aim is to conceal the real agenda that is quite simply AUTHORITARIAN in nature. Labour is gonna finally get its chance to finally destroy all that they hate and make those changes irreversible
Successive Tory governments since 2010 have done more to cement Labour’s public sector agenda and progressive, reality-bending agenda than Labour themselves.
The real question is WHO NOW RUNS BRITAIN? It isn’t this Tory government but the Left who controls what happens on the streets of this dying nation
October 10, 2023
‘oppressive laws will be passed to destroy free speech’.
This is already with us. The Online Harms Bill, courtesy of the Conservative Party and backed by Labour.
October 10, 2023
Well we all surely know that Labour will be even worse than the current Con-socialists. Their two tax raising plans (VAT on school fees and abolition of non Dom status) will raise no net money and do huge net harm. It is very hard to believe that even the daft Labour Shadow Chancellor & Ministers do not realise this.
So A Harvard professor who found the main factor holding back womenās earnings is caring for children has won the Nobel Prize for economics. Claudia Goldin was awarded the prestigious prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on Monday in recognition of work that has āadvanced our understanding of womenās labour market outcomesā.
So stating the blindingly obvious get you RSAS economics prize it seems. But I suppose you have to be woman saying this and not a man to win. Other reasons are they choose to commute less and are less likely to work in front line construction, refuse collection, less likely to study physics, maths, programming, be pilotsā¦ just less money motivated very often on average.
October 10, 2023
“Cutting down on plane use may afford some small savings though rail tickets are also dear these days and chauffeured cars do not come cheap”
Zoom is (effectively) free. It is not necessary to travel – indeed that is exactly what the Globalists and Eco Nutters expect of the peasants. Not that I expect Labour to give up “the perks” of Office any more than the Pretendy-Conservatives in order to save money. They will still be jetting around the world to hob-nob with the other Globalists; to “research” and (very conveniently) tack on a holiday at OUR expense.
Since Labour intends relying on the unelected, unaccountable OBR Quango to run its tax and spend policy, we might as well do away with The Treasury. Now that would make a considerable saving.
Anything Labour does will only be possible because the Not-a-Conservative-Party completely failed the 17.4 million who voted to LEAVE the EU and “take back control” and the millions who gave Johnson an 80 seat majority to control immigration and level up.
Both Branches of the Westminster Uni-Party should pay attention to the result of the German elections in the western states, Hesse and Bavaria. The AfD surged and came second in Hesse and was only narrowly pushed into 3rd place in Bavaria. Immigration (legal and criminal) is the issue which more and more people, across Europe, want reduced.
October 10, 2023
@ Donna – perhaps Rachel Reeves will use the OBR not to run tax and spend policy but to thwart the Left’s demands upon her when in office?
October 10, 2023
I look forward to seeing Starmer and Reeves catching trains to their buddies in Europe, little pleasures :).
Feel a bit sorry for the private plane company, as one rises another falls. They best start looking for an alternative client stream because they have advanced warning the way Rishi and Hunt are going.
October 10, 2023
The first turbine to be completed in a project to build the worldās largest offshore windfarm, in the North Sea, has begun powering British homes and businesses.
The developers confirmed on Monday that Dogger Bank Array, 70 nautical miles off the coast of Yorkshire, started producing power over the weekend as the first of 277 turbines was connected to the grid.
The project, jointly developed by Britainās SSE, Norwayās Equinor and Vargronn, will produce 3.6 GW of power, enough for 6m homes a year, when it is completed in 2026
Cynically, Sunak tried to claim credit for this project, while Starmer stated the obvious by saying “Sunakās lack of investment in wind power is a gift to Putin, who has strangled the international gas market we are hooked toā
As the UK moves to electric transport, Dogger Bank Array will do far more to secure our energy supplies than Rosebank. What Rosebank produces will be sold at world market prices, so the project will not cut energy prices for UK consumers; Sunak had to give Equinor a Ā£3.6bn tax break subsidy to make it economic.
October 10, 2023
“will produce 3.6 GW of power”
No …. MAY produce 3.6 GW of power ….. when the wind is blowing at the right speed. If it’s not blowing, or is blowing too hard, it will produce very little or maybe nothing. So it requires backup by a RELIABLE energy source. In other words, we have to pay twice and that is why wind energy is so expensive.
October 10, 2023
Only if the wind blowsā¦ how much is it costing – how long before the āinvestmentā is recovered and the project is into profit? Is that critical date before or after the turbines have to be replaced šš¤£
We need to take Putin up on his offer to flick the switch and supply gas at world price. One Nordstream pipeline remains intact. He says we just have to askā¦..
October 10, 2023
My electricity supplier boasts that they provide me with 100% renewable power but oddly I pay exactly the same as if they didn’t, so building more renewables won’t cut energy prices for UK consumers either.
October 10, 2023
Basically the contracts with Wind Farm builders/owners are based on an agreed set wholesale price, usually for the entire contract length. If the actual wholesale price ‘on the day’ is less than this set price then the government pays the difference to them. If it is higher then the government is paid back the ‘profit’. It is the disagreement as to how ‘high’ this set price should be which is delaying the contracts for new wind farms.
On a separate thought, Putin will sell us as much gas as we want, it is the western sanctions on him which prevent this. And yes, it is his fault!
October 10, 2023
And yesterday at 1300 it was producing zero because there was no wind.
Basic physics apply.
October 10, 2023
Wind farms produce a lot of power when the wind doesn’t blow. At least they must do according to your “logic”.
October 10, 2023
SG :
āThe project [the 277 turbine Dogger Bank Offshore wind power array] jointly developed by Britainās SSE, Norwayās Equinor and Vargronn, will produce 3.6 GW of power, enough for 6m homes a year, when it is completed in 2026ā
This is totally misleading because it deliberately confuses power and energy.
Firstly, a wind farm, because its power is chaotically intermittent cannot actually POWER anything. No-one expects their power to be intermittent. It is not unusual for wind farms to produce less than 1% of their installed capacity (3.6 GW in this case) for prolonged periods of time.
Secondly the wind farm doesnāt even produce sufficient ENERGY over a year for 6m homes. 3.6 GW at 40% capacity factor will produce 12.6 TWhrs. The average home consumption according to Ofgem is 2700 KWhrs/year (previously 2900) totalling 17.4 TWhrs, 40% more.
So not only do we have expensively produced and intermittent wind energy (not power) ā offshore wind requires 1000 times more steel and concrete per unit of energy compared to nuclear ā but we also have to build and run a completely parallel system (currently hydrocarbon fuelled) for grid stability and back-up when the wind isnāt blowing.
A completely daft energy system and totally insecure as the turbines (and solar panels) are essentially sourced from China, a state described by our security services as āhostileā.
October 10, 2023
+1
October 10, 2023
Still useless when the wind does not blow Goldie, but then it IS all a scam.
Bring back coal!
October 10, 2023
Itās the Conservative Party in government that has facilitated the policies to be soon enacted by the Labour led government through measures such as the appalling Energy Bill and the creation and worship of the OBR. Letās try and be a little optimistic. Iām always suspicious of commentators who project the result of a general election from local election results – one votes in local elections for councillors who one feels best represent local interests (only). Thereās no general enthusiasm for Labour, so a hung Parliament on a low turnout may well result from the next general election. A serious energy/economic crisis looks increasingly likely which would destabilise a fractious coalition government, causing another general election in perhaps two to three years time. A then reformed Conservative Party, or conservative alliance of parties, could then agree on a sensible and convincing manifesto.
A strange form of optimism perhaps, but itās all we have.
October 10, 2023
Just one look at the protests out the embassy yesterday tells you where we are heading.
Iāve pointed this out for years. Globalism and mass migration will make wars extremely difficult. There is such a thing as moral wars. My father fought for 5 years in WW2 and his fight was a moral one. The same religious group are the victim of war yet the left support the attackers. But the police were nowhere to be seen yesterday.
The country is out of control. We are waiting for an event to prove systemic failure by 30 years of Governments.
October 10, 2023
@Javelin; What we saw yesterday, over the weekend, if the result of 85 years of failure, not the last 30.
October 10, 2023
The Free Pallistine protests have no place in the UK.
It is not our war, not our argument, or fight.
Best of luck expecting the Police doing anything – they are utterly useless nowadays.
More interested nowadays in prosecuting people for name calling on social media, than dealing with the increasing crime on the street that occurs on a daily basis.
October 10, 2023
Yes, the current rate of over 200 coming in on boats every day (over 600,000 pa) will change this country for ever.
October 10, 2023
It’s probably impossible to build enough houses and flats to house 600,000 per year. If it carries on at 600,000 per year I forecast growing homelessness.
The main PMs in office when the UK last built enough houses to meet demand were both named Harold (Macmillan and Wilson.) Since then, the construction rate has usually been about 200,000 per year – too little to meet ‘indigenous’ demand, let alone demand from incomers.
I want asylum seekers to be distinguished from economic migrants. I want the former to be given residency/ citizenship in accordance with international agreements. I want the latter to be sent back to their country of origin. It’s insufficient that they feel very unhappy in the land of their birth. (According to social surveys some UK-born families are desperately unhappy with their lot.)
October 10, 2023
The maths is a bit dodgy there….GCSE failure I’m afraid.
October 10, 2023
The attack on Israel took place on Putin’s birthday and Putin had been hosting Hamas at the Kremlin. A religious war throughout the West is Putin’s payback for Ukraine.
Yes. Over 30 years of careless immigration could make things very difficult for us.
October 10, 2023
Four of the six countries joining BRICS+ at the end of this year are Islamic-Iran,Saudi Arabia,Egypt and the UAE.
Next year’s BRICS sumit,during Russia’s presidency, will be held at Kazan-officially Russia’s third capital and unofficially it’s Islamic capital.The population is roughly half Orthodox Slav and half Muslim Tartar (and if you go back to the late middle ages ,the leading muslim clerics in the city -then the capital of the Mongol Khanate of Kazan- were said to be descendants of the Prophet);the Kazan Kremlin hosts both an impressive Orthodox cathedral and an impressive mosque.The city is a widely admired model of co-existence and integration,attracting overseas visitors from all faiths.
October 10, 2023
Israel and the West could play a blinder by reacting with as minimum force as possible (but enough to get back their hostages – and slowly re-establish a firm grip on things in the region). So a measured response.
Israel has been making great progress recently in winning support of the Arab world in general in the region. It mustn’t lose this advantage.
Then this will just make Iran (and Hamas and Hezbollah) look more and more like the bad guys to the world in general. And we don’t want things to escalate either – as this affects the Ukraine War and much more.
Lastly, In the Art of War, there is a time for holding back force – and another time for going all out. This is not the time for going all out.
October 11, 2023
Lastly, Iran has a HUGE internal problem and that is millions of young (and older) Iranians hate the authoritarian government. These young want to be free to make their own choices. The more they see Iran supporting, in a moral sense, Hamas (who have massacred babies etc) the more repugnant the Iranian leaders will become – and not just to the Iranians but also to the Muslim world in general. There could then be a revolution in Iran to bring about democracy. And Iran ends up a secular country like Turkey – and actually pro the West! This is possible. Lots of Iranians hate their own government even more than Israel and the West. So Israel has to play it cool and using this to their advantage.
October 11, 2023
You don’t know what you are talking about.Iran is rapidly integrating with the BRICS and SCO;investment is coming in from Russia,China and India,particularly in the area of energy,logistics and defence.Look at the developments surrounding the North-South International Trade Corridor with new and modernised rail,road,freight handling and port links.The Iran-Russia axis is crucially important to the ambitions of both China and India to build their own trade networks.See amongst others:-
Foreign Policy.com,14/8/23:”The Caspian sea is a sanctions busting paradise.”
ModernDiplomacy.eu,13/8/23:”Russian-Iran Trade Co-Operation:A new Route with convergence of interest.”
IranPrimer.usip.org,18/5/23:”Iran and Russia:New Land and Sea Networks.”
And Turkey has become ever less secular and more ambivalent about the west under Erdogan.
October 11, 2023
Yes, of course, I agree with you about all this. But Iran is facing serious threats from within – from the young (and others) who don’t want to be under an authoritarian, Islamic regime anymore. You don’t acknowledge that.
Putin is the mastermind behind everything Russian at the moment. But he’s fairly old, sick man. So there’s no stability there regarding Russia’s future.
And problems in India and China.
Anyway, what’s your overall point? You want closer relations with Putin than with Germany, France, Netherlands, Scandanavian countries? That’s madness. You want Putin a free rein to march into the rest of Eastern Europe. That too would be madness. Anyway, we should be creating an economy that doesn’t over-rely on treaties. That is able to create and export quality brands abroad – in particular brands in the High Tech sector. What’s your overall goal / mission / vision here?
‘And Turkey has become ever less secular and more ambivalent about the west under Erdogan’. This is true. But other Arabic / Muslim countries have drawn closer to Israel (and the West). But at least if Iran was more neutral – more like Turkey – than it is now that would be something to be greatly welcomed.
October 11, 2023
The Gaza conflict is even better news for the US, which can now wind down support for Zelensky out of the spotlight of full-on media attention. Quietly organising an off-ramp from the Ukraine war is what the US/NATO needs to do, in order to avoid a public debacle like the scuttle from Afghanistan. Plus the fact that providing more military and financial support for Israel gives the US the perfect excuse for providing less to Kiev. That may pressure Zelensky to accept peace talks, which would be no bad thing.
October 11, 2023
This is nonsense. Iran could collapse (not a big possibility in the short-term but certainly weaken it long-term). Millions of Iranians hate their authoritarian government. And the massacre of Jewish babies by Hamas will escalate this internal opposition to the Iranian government.
Regarding Afghanistan why did so many Tories support the stupid, daft, HUGELY EXPENSIVE (in terms of lives, stoking up chaos in the region and spilling onto us and UK tax-payer’s money) war in Afghanistan and Iraq (I was strongly against it at the time and still – and NOT because I’m anti war but because it was a daft, expensive war. But sometimes you do have to go the other way like in Ukraine. Putin is a tyrant. And if you give in here, he will just march into the rest of Eastern Europe. Do you want that? The consequences of that on the UK’s security and economy would be significant – much more than Ukraine.
Anyway, I don’t trust the UK Parliament on decisions about war after taking the UK into Afghanistan and Iraq – basic, fundamental thing to get wrong. Although I do trust the British Armed Forces who are highly professional and I’m sorry for them what they have been put through by the UK Parliament.
October 11, 2023
British Armed Forces: PROFESSIONALS.
UK Parliament: AMATEURS.
Again, we need higher quality Tory MPs who have proper business and leadership experience. This must be the number 1 priority of The Conservative Party right now.
October 11, 2023
This is madness.
The West has to continue to stand up to Putin. Putin thought he could over-take Ukraine in days. How wrong he was. If Putin wins in Ukraine, he will just march into the rest of Eastern Europe. Do you want that? Have you thought of the implications of that?
And regarding Israel, yes, of course, we support Israel. But we don’t want anything heavy-handed except to neatly deal with Hamas. What Hamas has done is also terrible PR for them – and Iran. Iran has massive internal issues to do with its people hating is authoritarian, Islamic regime.
Lastly, don’t forget it was the Tory Party who supported Labour in the daft decision to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq which helped give Putin the incentive to march into Ukraine. We don’t rectify that mistake by cow-towing to Putin now – as he tries to march into Eastern Europe on our doorstep, plus when we can see how flawed his strategy was over Ukraine anyway. We don’t want to make life easier for him as you suggest.
October 11, 2023
Also, why are you so keen to make things so easy for authoritarian regimes like Russia and Iran (and China)? This was the mistake Germany made with Russia over its gas – and more. You can’t trust regimes like this. Sure, you have to do business with them – and try and maximise that as best as possible – but without cow-towing to them either / without becoming over-reliant on them as Germany was with Russia.
October 10, 2023
Labour’s answer to authoritarian government failure is….. more authoritarian government.
I would like to hear of the party that will do less for me and have fewer MPs and ministers.
We are at the mercy of a “something must be done” culture when people should be doing it for themselves.
October 10, 2023
+++
Agree 100%
And look at where that āprogressiveā ( aka commie) attitude has got us!
As you say. They proclaim. ā Something must be done. Letās rip out the heart of every historic town. Letās erase this country from memory .ā
A once safe and beautiful country.
Now tawdry, overcrowded and dysfunctional.
And like to expire.
October 10, 2023
Looking at Labour in isolation you have to ask whether they have the talent to run the country. The answer historically is absolutely not. Granted they have a potential Chancellor with some inside experience, however it is BOE experience , an organisation that has done us few favours.At that point the story ends. Labours rhetoric is, so far, better than that of the Conservative Party Conference. Neither party are inspiring sufficient to gain my vote. I do not sense that either party really understand the challenges we face, and even if they did, are so far buried in their individual credos that they cannot make the decisions the UK desperately needs. Win or lose for either of them is not an inspiring prospect for UK Ltd. Since the end of WW2 both parties have failed to fulfill expectation. We need a clean canvas and a fresh box of paints.
October 10, 2023
Sir John
So basically what you are saying is that labour are making unaffordable, unrealistic promises to get elected. Isn’t that exactly the same as what the Conservative Party have been doing for the last 14 years.
The Conservative Government caused a spike in inflation by raising costs to industry, they deterred oil and gas development with taxes. They have spent ludicrous amounts of taxpayer money on HS2 to appease the EU while the rest of the rail work was stymied. They allowed the NHS, and the State to grow exponentially on the backs of the taxpayer, but without regard to actual delivery. The Conservative Government created the OBR on the whim of a failed Chancellor to get him of the hook ā yet it fails, it is just another voice for Socialist thinking. The Conservative Government provides for foreign taxpaying entities to receive UK Taxpayer money for them to repatriate elsewhere while holding down UK enterprise ā in practice those that contribute fully to the UK economy are funding those they have to compete with that don’t ‘fully’ contribute.
Its an endless list of those in Parliament on all sides seeking personal self gratification at the expense of the whole UK. All self and no service, each faction has become as bad as the other ā the gang ‘leader rules’, the electorate and the taxpayer can get stuffed it about ‘Me’
October 10, 2023
“So Labour wish to run large scale investment projects better than HS 2” – a very low bar but a commendable one surely?
October 10, 2023
New Labour approved HS2 before it left office. It was heavily pushed by Lord Adonis.
The Cameron government’s mistake was not to critically review and then cancel the project.
October 10, 2023
We need a new party in this country as both the party’s have let the country down .
Wasted opportunities with Brexit.
Thank you
October 10, 2023
None of the major parties is worthy of public support or competent to govern in the interests of those whom they purport to represent and serve. They are mere puppets of an anti-democratic globalist cabal.
October 10, 2023
My recollection is that Labour, when Gordon Brown was Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduced the tax on dividends earned by pension funds. This killed final salary schemes dead with profound, adverse effects for the UK`s savings culture. It was Labour that passed the Climate Change Act, with profound impact on the cost of living for everyone. They are absolutely not to be trusted on taxation, with your savings or with your energy bills. The record shows that the Conservative party in government is little better. Investors are voting with their wallets, and it is not in the UK`s hostile investment environment.
October 10, 2023
If the government asked the private sector to lead more rail and road projects, we would get more infrastructure built more economically. We built the channel tunnel, M6 bypass and HS1 this way but abandoned this approach.
The government insisted on doing it in-house with HS2 with predictable disastrous results.
Seeing the private sector involved with the Euston redevelopment is good. We could extend the approach to the Lower Thames Crossing, HS2 extensions, and other private-sector rail proposals now on the table.
October 10, 2023
“Cutting down on plane use may afford some small savings though rail tickets are also dear these days and chauffeured cars do not come cheap.”
Thanks for the morning chuckle Sir John! Anyone who has bothered to actually listen or read Reeves’ conference speech knows she was talking about private & chartered planes, not bucket-list scheduled flights – private piston engine planes, never mind jets and helicopters, do not come cheap either.
” Most of us would like to see more private investment alongside or replacing public investment.”
Many a floating voter needs convincing I fear. So why is it the French SNCF, for example, can build new railway lines, comparable to the UK HS2 line, cheaper and achieve higher ridership too, might it have something to do with ownership models, with much of the expertise (consulting and operation) effectively in-house?
“It then led to big rises in tax revenues which they attack.”
Labour appear to attack wasted tax revenues etc, not the revenue its self, as you said yourself; “Chancellors have to make judgements as they will be blamed for the results”…
October 10, 2023
The great problem the Conservatives have is that they have made no effort whatsoever to explain and promulgate the truths of the Conservative message, and indeed most of them, particularly the top leadership, have shown little sign that they believe in them. Now they are up against an able and articulate woman, Rachel Reeves (you can forget Kier Starmer) who showed yesterday that she can make Labour’s offering, with all its shortcomings that you have highlighted, appear attractive and convincing.
What are they going to do about it?
October 10, 2023
It would appear some bizarre comedy is being played out before us, if it wasn’t so tragic. The Conservative Government and its CCHQ are thrashing around like demented cats trying to convince the World that Labour would be worse.
The Conservative Government after 14 years of promises has brought us the highest taxes in 70years, with even worse to come. UK debt is massive this Conservative Government has more than doubled it, the hard burdened taxpayer will have to pay it back. 48% of GDP under Labour, 101% under this Conservative Government – Ā£1.2 trillion to Ā£2.55 trillion march this year. That is taxpayer debt, with the taxpayer haveing to pay it back.
The economy to help pay it back, trashed then trashed further with BJ and his Cabinets import only policy.
October 10, 2023
The State has grown exponentially by 21% delivery is down, costs up ā all controlled and managed by this Conservative Government
October 10, 2023
The NHS spending increased by 40%, delivery down ā controlled and managed by this Conservative Government
October 10, 2023
Labour controlled by the Unions as their paymasters ā how would they be worse, union members don’t want to be out of work. Not out of work in the way this import only WEF Socialist Conservative Government pursues it as its overriding only policy, especially when added to the contradiction that is NetZero. The Chinese are opening 2 Coal fired powers stations a week to feed the UK with EV’s, batteries, wind power, and solar panels, all so this Conservative Government can say we have reduced our emissions?
UK industry and enterprise is down the pan while the UK uses Taxpayer money to subsidies the World and increase the Worlds emissions.
October 10, 2023
Brought to you by a condescending Conservative Government, possibly/seemingly keeping friends that cant find real work in money, the Quango.
Quango’s in 2009 employed 111,000 people and spent Ā£46.5 billion,
Quango’s in 2020 employed 318,714 people and spent Ā£223.9 billion.
As a percentage of total government expenditure, that is 21 per cent possibly down the drain there is no political or Democratic over-site. Over-site = 0
To get elected, āthere will be a bonfire of the Quangoās!, once elected oh we must give so & so a job! Then again that was just another Conservative Party promise reneged on
October 11, 2023
I can’t remember,did they set up a Quango to organise that bonfire of the Quangos?
October 10, 2023
What would Shakespeare have made of all this? A ‘divine’ comedy like Dante’s?
I certainly doubt it can end in happiness.
October 10, 2023
Labour is promoting a class and wealth war in the UK.
They say they want social mobility and people do earn more and do better, but goodness help you if you do they want you to share it all out.
Instead of offering the brightest poor students a chance to study for free in private schools, perhaps they will have to redirect those funds to giving 20% discount to those parents only just managing the fees. Often wealthy parents choose private schools because they worry their rich child will be bullied in State schools I wonder what gives them that impression Angela Rayner perhaps with her ‘to everyone who feels written off or looked down on. I’ve got your back’ typical bully talk, she still has a massive chip on her shoulder.
October 10, 2023
Is public sector growth ‘real growth’ of the economy?
I hope people are paying attention, private nursery owners who will be expected to engage degree-level students, and more training expected at a higher level for those few lower-cost child-minders putting their costs and charges up further.
All SME’s who are going to get their Statutory Sick Pay and Sick Pay holiday increased within 100 days, it is you paying that bill. Rights back for vexatious claims from day 1 of employment with no costs to the claimant.
300,000 guaranteed new homes to be built in first five years, planning over-rides removed, now where do you think those homes are going to go?
Spend, spend, spend, it will grow the economy but not the ‘real’ economy. Thank goodness I’m at this stage of my life and not when I had my house on the line to support my business loans and overdrafts.
Lifelogic is worrying about inheritance taxes at 1m for a couple to transfer, wake up they want to reduce this. 1 in 8 people will worry about this. There are a lot more people worried about current housing, and childcare costs for their children and grandchildren. They are about to get fooled into handing their infants to the State to parent from Breakfast to Tea time, crushed insects for lunch anyone.
October 10, 2023
āThis is not going to suddenly change the growth prospects, get inflation down faster or transform public sector management.ā
Nothing is going to work until the crazy idea to impoverish our country attempting to net zero our 1% contribution to global CO2 emissions, based upon the entirely false idea that increasing CO2 leads to a critical temperature rise from which the planet can never recover, is ditched. Happer & Wijngaarden have shown there to be no increased warming when CO2 levels rise, work never refuted by the IPCC, just ignored.
In the meantime our economy will be run by the CCC and the ClientEearth lawyers, funded in part by the taxpayer through the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO).
The National Grid alone want Ā£220bn :
https://www.nationalgrid.com/document/149501/download
This amounts to Ā£8000/household and doesnāt include the costs of the renewables, the parallel system required for storage, upgrading the local grids or the costs of the electrification of heating, transport, industry and agriculture.
For Ā£220bn you can build 100 RR SMRs providing 47 GW of affordable, reliable and secure energy (no dependency on China for the turnines and solar panels, a country described by our security services as “hostile”) and cut out this enormous National Grid bill and the expensive parallel back-up system for when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine.
October 10, 2023
Consultancies . I was a Management Consultant used at the highest level for 26 years . My services and those of the international organisation I formed and ran were never engaged unless there was success attached . Cost and result expectancies featured before every employment contract . If Labour follow this condition tax payers would be better off , however , they are more likely to pursue a programme without such professional advice . The record of the OBR and BoE forecasts have not been accurate or good and any Government would be wise not to continue to rely on them .
October 10, 2023
Labour have lost the plot leaving behind the traditional working class, and likewise the Tories have lost the plot leaving behind the apprising middle class and business ā¦and youāve all left the people behind
October 10, 2023
Labour only have a good chance of winning power next year due to the Conservatives utter incompetence. The large majority that was won in 2019 would have meant that the Conservative Government could have pushed decent Conservative policies through, however that majority has been utterly wasted – both by Boris and Rishi.
I now have the permanent mindset that this country is utterly broken. Crime and immigration is spiraling out of control. Housing and the daily struggle to survive becoming ever more expensive. Increasing Nanny state policies dictating what we can and can’t do. WOKE and PC ideals getting ever more ridiculous, and not being challenged by the Government – as it should be.
A Labour Government is not the answer to fixing the many issues the UK has. I highly believe many areas will get worse – in particular regarding immigration, WOKE and the Nanny State.
However the ‘Liberal’ Conservative party are neither a solution. When will the party leadership understand that people want CONSERVATIVE Government, not a wishy washy Liberal one. If people wanted a Liberal they would be voting in drives for the Lib Dems – which they aren’t – so does that not indicate there is no appetite for Liberal rule?
October 10, 2023
No one, except die-hard Labour supporters is in favour of their plans for the UK. As always it will be a disaster if Labour win the next GE, & the UK will end up poorer, more in debt & less dynamic than it should be.
To win the Conservatives party need to get into action, to do what they keep promising to do and make it happen.
The first step is to sack Mr Negative, Jeremy Hunt, who loses votes every time he opens his mouth. We need a chancellor who challenges the Civil Service, the blob, the Quangos, the Charities and all Government spending, and cuts it so we can afford tax cuts. We desperately need growth policies so Sunak has to totally change direction, sack Andrew Bailey and the OBR, who have both failed, and install Sir John as Chancellor. Time is short, we need Action This Day, in the words of Winston Churchill.
October 10, 2023
Speaking of value for money and efficiency, we have just witnessed the fruits of the deployment of AI in Mossad, the CIA, MI5 etc.
This āself-licking ice cream coneā has humiliated the west.
Q. How could Israel not have noticed what was going on under its very nose?
A. Because the computer programmed itself!
October 10, 2023
Agree, plus a measure of appeasement towards so called minority cultures & religions, that we may have ‘wronged’ centuries ago
October 10, 2023
We got trampled all over by Romans, Vikings, French — we need to be compensated.
October 10, 2023
Good to learn that Labour are still following the socialist agenda hopefully now abandoned by the pseudo-Tory government as unworkable and too costly.
We complain of the current Government interfering in our daily lives but this lot which to emulate the EU Commission and turn us all into an obedient nanny State. Please don’t let them anywhere near to Downing Street if you value a decent future for your offspring. ‘It’s not 1984 and Big Brother’ is not wanted here!
October 10, 2023
The OBR was created by the Tories so its a case of biter bit. It must very difficult trying to slag of the Socialists without sounding like a hypocrite.
October 11, 2023
Correction, it was created by those purporting to be Tories. Check back on all governments since Mrs T and see that they were all leaning left, regardless.
October 10, 2023
Rather off topic but very topical: seeing that Labour would “build”, including the creation of new towns, I pulled out this letter which I had printed in various local newspapers across the south east in March 2005:
“Immigration may be seen as a sensitive issue. But it impinges on our everyday lives in many different and significant ways, and so it really should be debated more openly.
One example is the South East Plan proposed by SEERA, the South East England Regional Assembly, which argues for a massive programme of building new houses and associated infrastructure across the south east.
Using data from SEERAās own publications, it can be estimated that the needs of the present population would be met by building just 19,000 new homes each year.
Of that total, about 4,000 would be enough for the natural growth of the population, which is now very low – only 0.1% a year. The rest would be needed because there is a trend towards smaller households – assuming that trend continues.
This annual requirement for 19,000 new homes has been easily exceeded each year for many years. Indeed in 2004 there were 28,000 completions. SEERA openly states that only two thirds of that number are needed for the established population of the region.
In fact if we built over 36,000 new homes a year, as strongly urged by business groups, that would be roughly twice as many as the indigenous population will ever need.
Many red herrings have been brought into the debate about housing needs, but the core issue is the present government policy of allowing and encouraging mass immigration.”
In 2005 the UK population was 60.4 million, now it is about 67.7 million; that growth is predominantly down to net immigration from abroad, and undeniably every person who comes here needs a roof over their head.
October 10, 2023
Labour could easily hit the Conservatives far harder.
The way doctors are being replaced with PA’s in the NHS, some even doing brain surgery never ever having had relevant training, is beyond unsafe. And yet the Conservatives are letting it happen.
If they mentioned the permanent “temporary” speed limits on the M1 “for air quality reasons” they would win lots of people over.
If they asked for a genuine meritocracy where discrimination against working class accents was treated like racism, then they would win lots of votes.
But they are saying none of this, and the Conservative party has left itself wide open to being wiped out by a new party.
October 10, 2023
Just read Starmer’s speech.
The promised renewal:
Just how much has the Conservative Party invested in Clean energy since 2010? We are told we’ve built and subsidised windmills and solar farms and infrastructure to support that; well, how much?
Last time Labour were in power they built around 48,000 social/affordable houses per year, and the Tories around 58,000 social/affordable houses per year, so how exactly are they going to increase that to 300,000 per year from 2025? Is it just quantity over quality as per usual, where we have to rebuild them 10 years later, or pull them down altogether after 40 years? Give us he actual figures and where you are building Labour, are you planning on knocking down people’s row of council terraces and replacing them as you did in London with mixed high-rise developments, people should know what this promise is?
How are you going to help business to grow when you increase the minimum wage from Ā£11 to Ā£15 (how quickly is that promised?) 36.3% rise. When you’ve promised to raise their sick pay cover and sick holiday pay? How much will the nurse and teacher want if the minimum is Ā£15 per hour, what is that going to do to inflation? Banning zero-hours contracts will have repercussions to people it suits. The gender pay gap where an indoor cleaner can claim they should earn the same as a bin collector working outside on a heavier dirty job, might find a problem getting bin collectors as they’d be better off warm and cosy indoors. Just what were the job equivalences in Birmingham that broke the Council because it could hit the rest of us?
Strengthening renter’s rights, what does that mean, Scotland-type agreements, where you can’t get rid of bad. non-paying wrecker tenants unless you sell the property with due notice. I say this as someone that doesn’t buy to let but I hope you got out already.
October 10, 2023
As a banker for 30+ years I donāt look at the actuality of the situation but the potential risk in a situation. It is not enough to think Oh that canāt happen you should think Oh that could happen.
So when I see the police ignoring a section of the population cheering atrocities against a strategic ally and the same police arresting those who sing a āhatefulā football chant that is trying to wind up an opposition player my response is to think about the potential outcomes of taking such actions. Do the potential hurt feelings of a footballer, who in all likely hood doesnāt care, or is the potential for a civil war breaking out in this country more important?
It appears the former is more important to the cabinet.
October 10, 2023
So now we know where we stand
Itās not permitted to denigrate the sight of terrorists celebrating the attack on Israel by Hamas on the streets of London by the boat people who have been welcomed into our country by your government
Tells me all I need to know about you and the conservative party
What will you say when the same thing happens in this country
With lily-livered politicians like you itās not surprising that weāre in the shit state we are
Nothing works here anymore and itās down to 13.5 years of conservative government
October 10, 2023
I’ve been thinking the same for some days.
October 11, 2023
They want to stop taking freebies too. I read this week that Starmer accepted (plenty of hospitality and free tickets to events Ed). Talk about being in the hold of business after what they will be expected to get up to with the unions if elected beggars belief.
October 11, 2023
One of the reasons Putin marched into Ukraine was precisely the Americans and British doing the same in Afghanistan and Iraq. So one of the consequences of the daft stupid decision of the UK government to support the USA here.
But 2 wrongs don’t make a right. Putin must be defeated in Ukraine. Not to support this would be to make a big error – for the second time – the first error being to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq which the majority of MPs voted for.
October 11, 2023
Why is your government quietly allowing these 13 years of decline accusations without any fightback at all? It’s bizarre.
I have never seen so much house building as what has taken place in the past ten years. Affordable and social housing (268 on one estate 17 acres of a previously grassed area) as part of newly built estates, too. To such a degree, I wonder where exactly these planning restrictions are that Labour is “going to Bulldoze through” because, in my area, anything goes. Doesn’t everyone have LAAC programmes?
The Housing Trust got government grants (not funded from their own charges!) from Homes England, 500 proposed new homes for them paid for by the State extra on top of all their income. Other estates with prices starting from Ā£85,000 for a 50% share. That’s just one small area.
October 11, 2023
Lastly, big problem with UK economy is that it’s too dependant on The City of London (important as that is). On what its people want. But also look at how the banks had to be bailed out by the tax-payers.
We need to diversify our economy – increasing the High Tech Sector. So that we can export high quality brands abroad without worrying about economic treaties and without having to worry about having to cow-tow to dodgy regimes – like Russia, Iran and so on.
(And likewise, focus on becoming 100% self-sufficient in energy – not for green reasons but for economic ones – so that we’re no longer at the mercy of dodgy regimes for our energy).
October 11, 2023
Not forgetting how our economy after the war, was to an important degree, planned by old-Etonians more focused on how to preserve and grow their capital rather than on building up the UK to have a modern, diverse, balanced economy – focused very much on the High Tech Sector – not just on the City of London (for starters, look at the brain-drain of people from the top universities to The City of London when many of these clever graduates should be going into the High Tech Sector instead. That’s just the start of it about how to grow the High Tech Sector.
October 11, 2023
The cause of the UK economic woes is outside government control (ie covid and Ukraine war).
So it’s unlikely any government can fix the problem.
Especially a socialist one.
But we have this new system of telling people what they want to hear rather than the truth.