It is quite wrong for people to say this is the worst financial inheritance for a government. U.K. finances were much worse in 1979 after Labourâs visit to the IMF for a bail out and aggressive over spending and borrowing. It was worse in 2010 when the outgoing Labour Chief Secretary to the Treasury said there was no money left. The U.K. was wrestling with recession and near bankrupt commercial banks needed hugely expensive  taxpayer rescues.
In 2024 we have just witnessed 5 years of a large increase in public spending, partly paid for by tax increases. There is plenty of money being spent, but a lot of the spending is misdirected or wasteful.The government needs to sort out spending priorities and redirect cash.
It should tell the Bank of England to halve its losses. That would save taxpayers around ÂŁ15 -20 bn a year. Following European Central Bank policies would save us by not selling bonds in the market and reducing the running loss on holding bonds,
It should aim to get public sector productivity back up to 2020 levels within two years, when it would then be saving ÂŁ20 bn a year.
It should make a major reduction in legal migration for lower paid jobs, allowing substantial savings on social housing capital and revenue budgets and all the other capital and revenue costs extra people bring.
Thereâs a ÂŁ50 bn redirection to allow government to pay medics more and to build more new public sector facilities.
July 15, 2024
Taxpayers money being is wasted all over the place & much of it is even spend doing positive harms. Worthless degrees, HS2, over regulation of almost everything, net zero, over bloated government, people not âworkingâ from home or the beach, endless benefits for people who should be workingâŠ
July 15, 2024
The Civil Serpents could be halved. Many have negative input jobs, many more working from home actually dog walking or at the gym. I see it on a daily basis. Why haven’t the extra taken on for covid been shown the door
Now we are told they can be just as unproductive on a 4 day week
That means at least 20% should be sacked. The real waste continues as it is obvious Reeves hasn’t got a clue.
July 15, 2024
â The government needs to sort out spending priorities and redirect cash.â
We all know that is not going to happen.
The aftermath of the Trump shooting is very interesting. Itâs not like the JFK assassination when there was only the Zapruder film and not much else. Everyone has phone cameras now.
(Unproven allegations against Secret Service)
There are unsubstantiated claims that the secret service snipers had sight of Crooks but were ordered not to open fire.
Numerous interviews with bystanders who say they alerted police and secret service people.
July 15, 2024
Last month Trump said that if he becomes President again he will this time release all the assassination files on John F. Kennedy.
Iâve seen suggested that Trumpâs best chance of survival is to pick a running mate whoâs even less popular with the Democrats than himself. This idea possibly explains why President Biden chose Kamala Harris.
July 15, 2024
JD Vance is Ace!
July 15, 2024
Wasted subsidy on offshore wind-turbines and high costs of imported energy
As at 09:00hrs â Wind generation 3.3% and imported interconnected French 22.1%
https://grid.iamkate.com/
July 15, 2024
..and for domestic gas supply we import 63% of liquid natural gas (LNG) âŠ.we were once UK self sufficient in 2004, the gas is still there in the north sea
July 15, 2024
Funny how gridwatch seems to have a fault showing constant 8.9gw of wind. Go to National grid live and get the true picture.
We’re being conned.
July 15, 2024
IW :
Were you looking at Gridwatch Templar? I noticed this at the beginning of June and emailed the webmaster for this website. I received back a reply 08/07 to say that he had to undergo a major operation and during this time the source of his data for the website made changes that caused some data, such as for wind, to cease working. Unfortunately it is unlikely the missing data will be recovered as it is an excellent website because its data can be downloaded.
July 15, 2024
Wind now down to 2.8%, 0.93gw and the idiot Milipide wants to carpet the countryside with 3000 more.
Will nobody tell him they don’t work when the wind doesn’t blow.
July 15, 2024
Indeed and he has just given the go ahead for a large farmland to solar plan. Which will give us energy mainly around lunchtime in the long days of summer, just when we least need it! It cannot be stored cost effectively.
July 15, 2024
Sadly labour agree with him and the tories aren’t going to oppose ….because they also agree with him
July 15, 2024
Good morning.
STOP overseas aid.
STOP giving money to NGO’s, charities and subsidies to private business.
STOP the growth of the Civil Service. One in, two out !
STOP government interference and growth. We do not need more and more ministries.
Do that and you save tens of billions.
July 15, 2024
++ Our government of the uni-party don’t do common sense
July 15, 2024
So much fat that could so easily be cut but zero political will even from 14 years of Tories and even less from Labour. Wes Streeting says the odd sensible thing on the NHS, relaxing planning is good if done quickly and well – all the rest is more socialist & anti-growth lunacy.
July 15, 2024
GB Energy, to add to your list. It’ll be interesting to see who are the ‘head feeders’ in that waste of money.
Perhaps Greta will get a Damehood…..
July 15, 2024
For services to new religions! Perhaps yet another honour to Sir David Attenborough, also for services to irrational religious belief systems – plus having a pleasant enough narrating voice.
July 15, 2024
Mark B
STOP all benefits to criminal migrants.
All those STOPS are unfortunately, the lifeblood of Labour.
July 15, 2024
Halve the civil service more do nothing of value other than create extra work for each other and inconvenience the productive in the private sector.
July 15, 2024
Agree to all the above …..and STOP net-zero
July 15, 2024
@Mark B +1
While I agree, Cameron, May, Johnson and Sunak continued the Blair, Brown miss-use of OUR money opening the door for all governments to do the same until it is all gone. If the Country canât earn, taxes diminish, then our future is gone. It was always about the economy, putting the economy first, rather than putting ego and ideology above common sense and good management – something the full time hangers on that have entered our political scene just cant comprehend.
July 15, 2024
But a company doesn’t ultimately become successful via economic savings (although very useful of course – that’s why you employ a strong finance director)!
A company ultimately becomes successful by its economy making and doing great stuff stuff (by having a strong leader who is both creative and pragmatic).
Making great stuff like high quality tech and doing great stuff like the services around this.
If Libertarianism is like the Finance Director, One-Nation Conservatism is like the HR Dept. Both are useful but what you really need is real leadership based on pragmatism and creativity to create strong brands and the services around these. Our economy should rest on this. Something of substance. And not based on the whims of the financial and consumer markets (essential as these are to our economy as well of course).
July 15, 2024
đI always say that the moment any company gets an HR Department itâs best work is over and itâs finished.
I see that Ben Habib agrees with me regarding Farageâs start-up.
July 15, 2024
Ed Miliband is planning to waste ÂŁ trillions on net zero which does net harm. Starmer needs to stop this and fire him now. He is totally deluded and in thrall to this new mad religion. But then Starmer appointed him and Patrick Valance so perhaps is it Starmer who is totally mad and deluded.
July 15, 2024
@Lifelogic +1
We tried previously to get rid on the evangelistic extremists, then got the equal nutters Cameron, May, Johnson and Sunak. We tried to change again and what happens all the previous problem people get regurgitated. Parliament is in a mess, the People of the UK have been disenfranchised.
July 15, 2024
+1
July 15, 2024
Politicians are genetically incapable of spending taxpayers money wisely. They even invent off piste ways of money creation like the Private Finance Initiative and ubiquitous Bonds. They then go print it to reduce its value. All to pay for worthless projects or ones they like the sound of but cannot understand. Remember, Groundnuts, the Dome, NHS computer projects, and our old friend HS2, that should it eventually materialise will be unaffordable in use. The biggest scam of all was/is the State Pension Scheme paid for by National Insurance which is in reality just tax. Tax used for anything but the SPS. It should of course have been a ring fenced state investment scheme which by now would have been able to pay everyone an adequate pension. Rumour abounds that the current bunch of profligators are about to cut it for those who wisely invested in private pensions. Retirement income that is already taxed again if you reach the static thresholds.
Tax take is spent badly because many politicians and their scribes do not have the experience of the self employed in going into the real world and earning it. I would be happier if the man from Pimlico Plumbers was running the economy.
Reply The Pension is based on NI Contributions NI does pay for the pensions on a pay as you go basis.
July 15, 2024
R to R,
Pay as you go means rob Peter to pay Paul. NI is not a payment that is invested for future income in the sense rhat a pension company invests. It is tax given another name.
July 15, 2024
NI employers and employees are all income taxes. Split into three so you do not notice quote how high it is. Top rates can be as high as 68% of income. Even higher at the margins where you lose personal allowances or child benefits. Then when you spend it they take another 20% VAT & far more on petrol, alcohol, tobaccoâŠ
July 15, 2024
It’s a Ponzi scheme and relies on more and more people paying taxes to support it.
July 15, 2024
Reply to reply
Your party seemed intent on reducing NI contributions. How would state pensions be determined if there were no NI contributions? Or was the plan that they would both cease to exist?
Reply When I was a Conservative MP I asked them that and got no answer. I made a speech explaining the current contributory system in the Commons but no one else engaged in the issue!
July 15, 2024
Reply-Reply,
No surprise, and they wonder why huge numbers did not bother to vote at all, especially past Conservatives.
July 15, 2024
Well done for asking. Typical that no one in government seemed to care. So many issues have been ignored.
July 15, 2024
The reduction in NI for employees is basically a back handed way to effectively put NI on pensions and unearned income. Cut employees NI but increase income tax for all to replace it, this by reducing allowance at 20%, 40%,45% and perhaps increasing rates. It is rather obvious & doubtless Labour will continue with the Treasury & Huntâs evil plan. Claim the NI reductions as tax deduction but increase income taxes for all by stealth at the same time by more.
July 15, 2024
Current State Pension is paid for by the contributions of current workers. The contributions of those currently taking State Pension paid for previous State Pension receivers. It’s a Ponzi scheme.
One wonders why anyone entering the workforce now owes anything to generations who have voted for borrow and waste governments, when their taxes not only have to pay for State Pension, but also the massive debt interest bill. Shouldn’t the generation that voted for borrow and waste governments pay off the debt?
July 15, 2024
You also have to ask why we are paying NI credits and benefits to people who live abroad. Also, why are we allowing people living abroad to buy cheap NI credits which will give them a UK state pension on top of the one they already have from their own country?
July 15, 2024
But a pay as you go system hits problems in a country where the workforce is reducing as the population ages, individual cash requirements increases with inflation, the size of the pensionable population increases, and the “National Insurance” funding is reduced to “provide Tory tax cuts”.
Do the sums
July 15, 2024
@Reply – but is should do, then having Governments running the Worlds largest Ponzi scheme would diminish with them keeping their hands out of the till. As it stands with the Hunt trend of diminishing NI all future pensions will be means tested, that means those that try to take care of themselves will have their future diminished by those that don’t give a damn so get well looked after.
If NI was an investment, it would would earn more than what was needed to pay pension liabilities. Yes the illegal Ponzi scheme has to stop. Mrs Thatcher saw the need to move away, then subsequent governments have sort to return the people to being beholden to the State.
NI would be a good thing(just a compulsory National Insurance) if only governments wanted to make it so.
July 15, 2024
@Reply â NI is also evolving it to be a con and a fraud. The Conservative Government in 2016 reinforced âtheirâ notion that all State Pensions were just benefits. NI now has nothing to do with anything. If you didnât pay NI, the system for the most part still pays you the same money as those that did. If you are a criminal and illegal invader from abroad (boat people) you still get the same pension and benefits as those that contributed to NI.
If Ni had be allowed to become a Nation Insurance, the UK and its taxpayers wouldnât have become the worlds host for scroungers. The Government wouldnât be involved in an illegal Ponzi scheme.
It gets weirder State employees who don contribute to pension schemes, get a reinforced gold plated pension that is not seen as a benefit, just entitlement paid by others.
NI could have and still could be so much more and solve more problems if there was a political will
Reply There are still annual accounts of this contributory fund for the pension.
July 15, 2024
Public sector productivity could easily be doubled as half the things they âproduceâ do net harm – so stop all those and fire the people do these to release them to get a real and productive job. Get out of areas they largely do not need to be in. Get fair competition between state and private provision in healthcare, schools, energy, banking, ditch the soft loans for worthless degrees⊠circa 75% of them.
July 15, 2024
It will only get worse under this new government as it pours billions into madcap schemes to make energy more expensive and as the tax base that is supposed to fund it shrinks under the weight of misguided regulation.
July 15, 2024
@David Andrews +1
Making energy expensive based on uncosted NetZero Laws makes expensive it for UK Industry to stay in the UK. part of the off-shoring ideology. If we don’t produce anything we cant pollute, but we also have no economy and no future. UK’s NetZero laws are steeling our children s future.
July 15, 2024
While it may be wrong to say this is the worst financial heritage for a government, it will continue to be said and go unchallenged.
This will be the backdrop/excuse to all of the Labour governments ills inflicted on us, and such as BBC/C4 will be more than happy to make sure the nodding masses have the story stuck on that one page.
July 15, 2024
The real issue is that the new government has the worst plans for making the nation’s finances into even more of a disaster.
July 15, 2024
Until government abandons prioritising ‘job creation’ and instead concerns themselves with ‘wealth creation’ the policy development departments will be forever focusing on the wrong priorities.
Creating jobs is as easy as it gets when you have tax payer’s money to hand out. We have all seen the endless none jobs and titles created in the public sector simply to satisfy ‘creating’ jobs.
As Sir John says, there is a lot of money being spend but not all of it is being spent well.
I suspect he was being unusually diplomatic with that observation.
July 15, 2024
Telling the Bank of England to halve its losses would be tolerating the other 50% of its losses as acceptable.
Any bunch of idiots losing that original ÂŁ30-40 billion a year should be stripped of their authority to go on wasting.
July 15, 2024
+ 1
@ Sir John – please why only “halve its losses” when you have shown previously that its loss-incurring activities are unnecessary?
July 15, 2024
Good morning SJR
It is surely a political narrative, that’s all it is. I believe it’s called ‘bullshit’
July 15, 2024
Sir John, these are the same recommendations you were making to the previous, Not-a-Conservative-Government. That was a Government by your own Party and they completely ignored you as they carried on with the planned destruction of our energy security, food security, economy, social cohesion and the nation’s overall health and well-being.
I’m curious to know why you think the new Labour Government will pay a scrap of attention, when all they are doing is following the same Orders from the WEF and IMF but are already ramping up the planned destruction?
It seems to me that you are addressing the symptoms of the problems we face, not the cause, which is our subordination to various Globalist institutions, particularly the WEF.
Reply The globalist organisations follow the governments and vice versa. They all agree with each other. How do you suggest we get the change we need? I have always thought we need to change the views of the U.K. government
July 15, 2024
Reply to reply: perhaps the first step should be to point the finger where the finger should be pointed: at the WEF, IMF and soon to be WHO.
And then campaign to stop Ministers involvement with them, starting with banning them from attending Davos.
July 15, 2024
Agree
July 15, 2024
Change views? Not a chance. Vote Reform!
July 15, 2024
you won’t change the 2 present governments, you must change WHO governs.
July 15, 2024
Agree
July 15, 2024
Road pricing may be next, the media like 15 minute from home. Why cut when you can increase.
July 15, 2024
road/usage pricing will end the pretence of our ‘freedom’
July 15, 2024
Last night the England men’s football team came close to winning their first international tournament since 1966. They improved with each game that they played in this tournament and during the final, they scored an equaliser and even at the last minute, the Spanish defenders were repeatedly clearing the ball off their goal line.
England have a wealth of football talent in the team. The manager, Gareth Southgate, has taken them to successive finals in the Euro’s and to the semi-finals elsewhere. There will now be calls to replace him. This would be a mistake, who do we have that is better?
Southgate and his team will be disappointed at losing. Spain were the best team in the tournament, winning every match they played. The nation can be proud of them.
July 15, 2024
SG
Could not fault the effort, but afraid Southgate was far too defensive minded, we lacked real creation in midfield because we had no free running attackers for them to feed, only when the positive attack minded substitutes were sent on did we look positive and creative.
To win a knock out tournament you need to score goals, and afraid Spain showed everyone else the way, and it is forwards, not backwards.
July 15, 2024
An apt similie for the last Conservative government. Should have been successful but wasn’t prepared to really go for it
July 15, 2024
I beg to differ, Safe Gate will never win anything. Media pleasing squad, young in form players, but never used.
Older tired dyed-in-the-wool ones played even out of position. The football slow, reactive, never a sense of urgency until losing. Always an in favour player or two who has to dominate the style or lack of, built around egos.
Why continue the losing streak, the mindset is a loser.
July 15, 2024
”The football association (FA) received over ÂŁ100 million from various government departments and government funded bodies in 2021-22 in the form of deferred grants”
Why oh why are we funding this ‘private’ club that has billionaire members
July 15, 2024
The England team, no need to add men’s to the description.
July 15, 2024
Can on back up the assertion that this is not as bad as 2010 with figures?
GDP then. GDP now.
Population then and now (ha ha).
GDP per head then and now.
National debt then and now.
Debt interest then and now.
Tax take then and now.
Public sector performance then and now.
July 15, 2024
Afraid waste has been going on for years, they just re name it every now and again, borrowing is now called investment.
July 15, 2024
We’re still paying for HS2 and the EU
July 15, 2024
âPublic Sector productivityâ – given theyâre hoping to move to a 4-day working week on the same pay, that seems unlikely.
July 15, 2024
an oxymoron.
July 15, 2024
The purpose of high spending, necessitating wasteful spending to achieve it, is to provide a justification for high taxation.
High taxation is a means to take money and hence spending out of the hands of the private citizen. Firstly it dampens inflation as there is less money chasing goods and services. Secondly it provides better control over the population by making them poorer and more dependent upon the state. Also making them less active and less able to make choices the state wishes to end. For instance, high taxation makes it more difficult for parents to afford private schools for their children. And thirdly, it dampens spending on food, goods, building and travel etc. and consequently reduces our CO2 emissions, net Zero being the most important target to achieve to save the planet even if it means impoverishment with third world expensive and chaotically intermittent energy. As I write (08:40) the 30 GW of installed wind power is providing just 0.56 GW, 1.86% of demand.
July 15, 2024
We could all call our energy policy a joke if it was not so serious.
I would like to see a more concerted effort by our senior ex MPs to call out the Net Zero folly for what it is.
July 15, 2024
‘There is plenty of money’.
Well Government behaviour during the last 5 years has taught us the watchers that money can be found for ill-advised, unpopular schemes, write-off projects, foreign aid, fighting others’ battles, making very comfortable nests for a million per year immigrants with mostly no return on the effort. We close energy tapping resources, but have become reliant on buying energy from the Interconnectors. We watch manufacturers like car producers, train rolling stock etc give up in favour of imports.
Perhaps Labour will act on this, but I don’t hold my breath.
July 15, 2024
Sir John
The trouble is we havenât seen a Conservative Government this century.
Labours Socialist ideological damage and miss-management continued under Cameron, May, Johnson and Sunak. They have racked up the highest peace time tax take and borrowing.
There has been no attempt made to get a return on spend, it has been our money going out the door as if it is confetti.
A buzz phrase at the moment is that defense spending should be a percentage of our GDP, all good. But why isnât the same thinking applied to all Taxpayer spending, the State, actual Government departments, all the places âourâ money is spent on âourâ behalf shouldnât that also be as a percentage of GDP?
July 15, 2024
Hi sir John
That’s just it
Its public money hard earned by tax payers
If it runs out no problem just put taxes up to raise more the people wasting our money are all very well off not affected by a poorly run country.
Thank you
Bad luck England football team.
July 15, 2024
Sir John
The big change in mind set is needed in government, in the civil service, yes – the BoE, and so on none of them have money, they just use laws they create to access our wallets.
Government is there to manage spend on our behalf. We had the situation that Sunak/Hunt refused to manage, be it their own spend or even the BoEâs. They caused the inflation we all had to pay for by them raising taxes, deliberately causing price rises needed to cover their punitive punishment extra take. Then to rub salt into the wound they threw the money away. They didnât manage it, I would guess they didnât know how to manage.
Letâs never forget the malicious use of a so-called Net-Zero Law to punish the people of the UK. An uncosted ideologically socialist style diktat, that none of our Competing nations impose on their people. The Conservative Government has tied the UKâs citizens hands behind their backs in some sort of retribution.
Our legislators the HoC make, amend and repeal all Laws. These uncosted Laws remain and have been enhanced. The Conservative Government opened the door to uncosted punishment by use of Laws, would it be a surprise if Labour didnât follow on, squeeze more, manipulate more.
After-all Cameron, May, Johnson and Sunak just took up the Socialist baton handed to them by Blair & Brown. No Conservative would have done that.
July 15, 2024
Very good points indeed.
July 15, 2024
The Bank of England should be disbarred from buying gilts and should be ordered to hold its existing gilts until either they can be sold at least at par or until maturity. It also desperately needs an competent individual to replace the incumbent who has ‘miraculously’ failed his way to increasing levels of responsibility.
July 15, 2024
…. sent abroad or wasted on inane vanity projects.
Somebody really should calculate the amount of taxpayers money wasted over the last few years on covid related areas, the Ukraine war, BoE Bonds sold at a loss, TV adverts(Indoctrination), expense of immigrants, a failing civil service, the cost of unions subsidised by the taxpayer, not to mention the futility of netzero, economic policies that saw our debt spiralling out of control, and so much more.
Just imagine if all of that wasted money had been used wisely – we wouldn’t now be having more potholes than hot dinners. We’d have a thriving economy and infrastructure second to none.
So, let’s ask the big question – WHY DID IT ALL GO SO WRONG?
July 15, 2024
‘It should aim to get public sector productivity back up to 2020 levels within two years, when it would then be saving ÂŁ20 bn a year.’
Why not experiment by picking a medium-sized department and cancelling all work-from-home; everyone must now turn up in the office, just like the old days pre-lockdowns.âObviously, the Government will have tried to save money in the meantime by reducing office space, but I expect it is still underused and so some of the remaining WfH departments can squeeze up a little to make room for the returning office wallahs.
Then given it a couple of years and see if the office-based department’s productivity has gone up compared to its peers which are just trying the normal, failing, methods of getting productivity back to where it once was.âThis guinea-pig department can also act as a comparison for rates of mental-illness, etc., to see if not being home alone day after day helps feeling better.
July 15, 2024
Ralph C
Why should it take 2 years to get back to what it was in 2020
Commercial companies would do it in days, providing raw materials were available, surely if you were set up for a certain volume of production, you just replicate the system it to get back to the same as before, that is unless the staff are now all “working” from home in chaos, and are being allowed to do so inefficiently.
What else would be a limiting factor. ?
It certainly is not a lack of money !
July 17, 2024
Hi Alan, I agree productivity should be improvable in fewer than two years, but monthly measurements, say, take time to accumulate.âThen seasonal changes need a year-on-year comparison, and the upheaval caused by change may initially make things worse.âBut I agree, improvement should much quicker, say six months, and importantly the staff should clearly feel that the department is working better, the backlog is falling, it’s easier to do their tasks with less overhead, etc.
Working from home must be a big suspect.âEven if sat at the keyboard, trying to work, that dripping noise is reminding the worker that the guttering needs fixing.âWhich in turn prompts thoughts of all the other homely tasks sitting around them.âHome is a distraction in many cases.âThe advantage is avoiding the commute.âThe commute is a problem because too many don’t live near to work; high stamp duty encourages this by making the workforce less mobile.
July 15, 2024
Wind now down to 2.8%, 0.93gw and the idiot Milipide wants to carpet the countryside with 3000 more.
Will nobody tell him they don’t work when the wind doesn’t blow.
July 15, 2024
See we can’t mention the large donation from a certain Eco power company that relies on renewable subsidies being their business model.
July 15, 2024
The sensible response to wasteful or misdirected public spending is not to redirect it to other public spending as public spending is systemically inefficient but to eliminate it and cut taxes so that people can spend more of their own money. My view is that you can either have low taxation and poor public services or have high taxation and poor public services. Put that way any sensible person can see low taxation is preferable.
July 15, 2024
More comments Lammy made in the past about President Trump:
âTrump is a far right extremist. He supports Neo Nazis, KKK and other racists. We need to call him for what he is.â And when Trump complained he was being treated badly, Lammyâs response was: â4 US Presidents have been assassinated snowflakeâ.
Yesterday nearly made it 5.
Why is Lammy still Foreign Secretary?
July 15, 2024
Donna
Do you really want an answer to that question, just think about it for a moment, perhaps quota’s, diversity, or a host of other possible reasons etc etc.
I see absolutely no other reason, as you surely would not (if you are sensible) put in place a foreign secretary who has previously insulted the person who will eventually be the most influential and powerful man in the World, and your strongest Allie.
July 15, 2024
The correct answer cannot be printed.
July 15, 2024
But we all know – snowflakes – heâs allowed to say that right?
July 15, 2024
We urgently need government and opposition with a belief that stopping waste is beneficial for both the state and individuals.
Saying staff numbers should be reduced are known to be useless however. Even if it does happen it is only short term and numbers are increased again quickly later.
What must be said and done is the regular abolition of chosen government and agency functions. To state an objective shows determination. Once they have been abolished staff numbers can’t be rebuilt.
July 15, 2024
These are sensible comments, Sir John, but you have made them, quite rightly, before. The Coalition and Conservative governments of the last 14 years have had no desire to reduce or control spending. It is unlikely Labour will suddenly discover a mean streak, so we will have more of the same. Who knows how bad it will be in five years’ time?
The Conservatives need to accept they were decimated because they deserved to be. Then, start from the basics and rediscover and argue for Conservative Values. They then need a tough and ruthless leader, who in power, will reduce the Civil Service by 400,000 and who will shut Quangos by cutting off their money, who will question all government spending and be for small government and low taxes. The last four and a half years have been appalling, no direction, no purpose, a second-rate PM and Chancellor totally captured by the Treasury and the BOE. The freezing of tax thresholds is disgraceful, as is the blind pursuit of Net Zero. Now they are out of office perhaps they can do some simple research to show Net Zero is nonsense and start the fightback against Labour there!
July 15, 2024
I wonder how much money is wasted on keeping foreign criminals in prison and keeping those in prison who would and should have received the death penalty.
July 15, 2024
Also
I wonder how much money is wasted on keeping foreign students and their families
July 15, 2024
You do realise the lossy bond sale is a back door to pay public sector final salary pensions.
July 15, 2024
Ah!
July 15, 2024
Dear Sir john,
The mantra for government and the whole public sector should be “Do less but do it better”.
This principle should apply right down from the passing of new laws, crimes and regulations, via the National Health Service down to the details of administration.
Public spending is currently more than 45 per cent of GDP and the deficit about a tenth of that. Historically, these are incompatible with a healthy, growing economy. Broadly, anything much more than 40 per cent is damaging, except in a depression. Conversely, given our current structure, anything less than 35 per cent is too low to maintain the welfare state and good public services.
The rolling average deficit should be close to zero. The vast majority of public sector capital spending, though often a desirable use of taxpayers’ money, is really consumption rather than investment since it is not calculated to produce a direct rate of financial return to the Exchequer at least equal to the risk-free cost of capital (currently about 4.25 per cent or 2 per cent real ).
There is bound to be waste. Mr Tice, explaining his non-manifesto, argued that any business could quickly cut its costs by 5 per cent if it needed to and that is surely true. But not nearly enough.
In reality, most of the spending programmes have a genuine purpose. There needs to be a much stronger disciplined sense of priorities.
Times and again, for instance, we see legislation being gold-plated to require new statistics to be kept , registers to be set up, new crimes to be detected, policed and prosecuted, new rules to be administered, new committees to be formed and new annual reports to be sent to Parliament. All very fine, no doubt, but all costing more money and many more hundreds of hours of paid work.
If families need a new car, they do not buy all the optional extras unless they are flush. They will not be able to afford a car at all unless the public sector takes the same approach when spending other people’s money.
July 15, 2024
While I donât know the direct taxpayer costs of this and the last governments policy of âre-wildingâ âŠbut the indirect costs, according to my council, in our high street, 1-in-10 paving blocks have been dislodged, broken or raised, due to weed & root growth âŠ.I believe that this is the tip of the iceberg
July 15, 2024
I’ve just read this
‘The cost of leaving weeds untreated could be as high as ÂŁ60 million in Brighton and Hove, councillors were told during the annual budget meeting. Labour councillor Tim Rowkins who said: âUncontrolled weed growth is one of the primary causes of damage to our pavements. We currently spend ÂŁ50,000 a month on reactive repairs to pavements. We have a backlog of repairs totalling ÂŁ60 million.â
https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2024/02/24/untreated-weeds-fuel-60-million-pavement-repairs-backlog/#google_vignette
July 15, 2024
As of 30/06/2023 there were 10,321 foreign nationals out of 85,851 prisoners in England and Wales.
There were 8,554 lifers likely there for murder. (prison population statistics, assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)
The 2002/03 homicide rate was 25/million in NI and Scotland and 20/mn in E&W. In 2022/23 it was 13/mn in Scotland, 10/mn in NI and E&W. (statista.com)
The death penalty for any type of crimes was abolished in 1998 in the UK. The last person executed was in August 1964.
The most common crimes are fraud (3,526k in 2023), theft (2,650k in 2023), violent crimes (ie, homicide, assault, robbery 998k in 2023), computer misuse (745k in 2023) and vehicle offences (406k in 2023).
As pointed out by various prison ministers these last thirty years, the incarceration rate in E&W (141 per 100,000 in 2023), 138 in Scotland are higher than in Spain (116), France (106), Northern Ireland (97), Italy (96), Sweden (74), Germany (67), Norway (57). For comparison it is 531 in the USA.
Does the UK want to go the US way?
Or could it be that the usual reaction of the population is âlock them upâ without them realising that using community services for minor offenses might be cheaper and less conducive to repeat offenses.
July 15, 2024
As someone who has been affected by events of crime on several occasions I would say, at least when they are locked away I get a rest from these horrible vultures who prey on us.
They are all volunteers.
Just stop stealing cars, breaking into houses, shops, offices and warehouses.
Just stop thieving from shops and supermarkets.
Just stop attacking and mugging innocent people on their way home.
Your statistics hefner compare some very different societies with very different attitudes.
ps
And my opinion is that many fail to pay fines nor turn up for community service.
July 15, 2024
A huge thing Tories missed in creating the economy of the 1980’s is (as demonstrated by psychology / science);
People are much more productive when they are contributing towards the making of something and of high quality (in terms of engineering and design) and that originates from one country – with high exports. For example, Apple Phone, BMW Car, Boeing Plane, IBM Mainframe Server and so on (as opposed to working in the Financial Sector or the Consumer Sector – important as these are).
Not forgetting the huge revenues made from these brands and also the services around them (in particular things like IBM Mainframe Servers) and all the companies / brands that contribute towards these brands / connected to these brands in various important ways.
It’s not to late to dry and develop the UK more as the world’s second Silicon Valley (in particular, if feasible, in Cambridge and then Oxford areas) as well as develop North of England more in this industry and other industries in particular in Leeds-Manchester-Sheffield area and let the success her percolate to rest of North, as well as look at trying to create the British Car brands of the future to rival German ones.
We need a big shift in Tory politics to help this industry and the new wealth this would bring to our nation as well as deepening and diversifying our economy so that we don’t just rely on the boom-bust financial sector and the consumer sector.