US GDP per head of $83,000 is already well ahead of the UK at $58,000. It is almost double the EU at their pathetic $43,000.
So why does the UK government want to lock us into a failing poverty machine called the EU instead of adopting US policies which promote growth and greater prosperity?
The US has just gone for lower taxes. No tax on tips and overtime. What an incentive . The UK with its growth busting tax raising budget last year is planning another higher tax teach the rich a lesson budget.There will be fewer and fewer rich to do detention in the government low growth school.
Why are so many in the UK establishment wedded to the notion that tying us to low growth low income EU will make us prosperous? Why do they not see the US has outperformed the EU all this century to date. With the tax cuts coming and the dominance of US digital and AI the US will again this Parliament beat the EU and UK in a big way.
July 6, 2025
“So why does the UK government want to lock us into a failing poverty machine called the EU instead of adopting US policies which promote growth and greater prosperity?”
It would appear that economic success is not a priority for this Government. It has a different agenda.
July 6, 2025
A different agenda? Well the plan seems to be good for creating even more essentially parasitic jobs for lawyers, tax consultants, compliance with employments and other red tape advisors… the more anti-productive for the economy you are the better off you are in Starmer’s UK.
July 6, 2025
If there’s one thing we’ve learned in the last year it’s that 2TK is not a visionary leader with a plan for national development and growth for the people. He is a lawyer and bureaucrat. Such people do not develop new leadership decisions to change the direction of a nation; they need to be told what to do. In 2TK’s case, as with certain Tory leaders, they want the ideas and rules and changes to come from a superior body, in his case the EU. 2TK looks for rules and instructions to carry out, from any transnational body with a clever name, but NOT from the great unwashed English voter. We are to be oppressed and be happy about it.
July 6, 2025
Peter
Agreed, Starmer’s whole life has been about rules, regulation and small print, he is not going to change now, he will try and fine tune rules, regulation, and tax even more, he is a disastrous choice for a leader.
July 6, 2025
Old wolf,
Labours agenda is communism, nothing more complex.
July 6, 2025
Still focused on that old fashioned concept of wealth and prosperity measured by money and assets I see, Sir John….
As we grovel in our poverty low energy utopia, pursuing Net Zero and certain economic collapse, we are sustained by our BBC here in the UK. There they are encouraging us to adopt the ultimate/abstract high moral and virtuous position of collective economic and cultural decline. Those apparently laudable ideals the moral high ground, evidenced by perfect equality of zero resources is needed to save the the world from the folly of civilised society, wealth and secure living pursuits.
How superior we will feel as this once great nation of invention and democracy, that gifted the world the systems needed for stable government of the people, for the people, by the people so succinctly put into words by Lincoln. System demonstrated by the collective achievement of democracy nations defeating rampant fascism in the last century.
Perhaps it is time to remind all the virtue signalling moral evangelists of the predominantly left side of our liberal society, something fundamental.
Our security and ability to fight tyranny in what ever form, was and is only possible thanks to our wealth and inventive capacity. That fundamental truth has not changed. We must thank our god/s, at least the USA with its new government has recognised/sustained that truth. Only ongoing economic strength can provide security to ‘the’ people.
July 6, 2025
We have three main parties in the UK, all three are different shades of socialist. Until we break this stranglehold nothing will change.
Reform are cut from a different cloth and love him or loathe him Farage is a patriotic British man.
Except for the20% who rely on government largesse. Public Sector and the mainly skivers. The hard working taxpayers are getting increasingly angry at being taxed into oblivion to provide this largesse, especially on immigrants and Net Stupid.
We have a health system which consumes vast amounts of money but is there mainly for the benefit of the employees, an education system that brainwashes the young with left wing ideology and a police force that prosecuted said taxpayer whilst turning a blind eye to real criminality.
There has to be change before it descends into violence.
July 8, 2025
The nonsense of the uk is astounding. Every direction reveals more symptoms of stupid, 20 year government decisions. If the people were polled on their fear of the continued declined, I think it would be a shockingly large %. More than the 70% who didn’t vote for Labour.
July 6, 2025
Your government ignored Laffer and the example of Ireland also signed up to a high tax treaty and this has been continued.
Economically illiterate MPs and a Keynesian Treasury. Although In my view wrong, the Labour Party is at least being true to its principles.previous Tories sold out and we are all now paying the price.
As for America, comparisons are vapid. Trillion dollar deficits, worlds currency and re GDP ‘everyone’ is an entrepreneur/investor.
They embrace risk whereas we/EU abhor it.
Reply I didnt have a government. I proposed policies the Conservatives under Sunak did not adopt
July 6, 2025
Sir John, it is good you acknowledged we had no government, as a fellow Tory member that is exactly what the rest of us thought too. That is why so many of us true conservatives have chosen to support the only true party of enterprise and right thinking called Reform. That new centre right party is still evolving and will get things wrong at times along the way, but at least it recognises the value of conservatism.
July 6, 2025
High taxes then “invested” appallingly inefficiently by this dire antigrowth government often spend doing net harms. On top of this we have energy at three+ times the cost of the USA and rig the market to artificially push premature, and often Inappropriate and duff tech like heat-pumps, EVs, Electric Ambulances, Electric Buses… Then we have the vast costs of the mainly low skilled migrants to fine, a no deterrent criminal justice system and are chasing the rich and hard working out of the country or deterring then from bothering to work.
Plus we are getting people into large student debts for generally worthless degrees. What could go wrong.
As David Starkey puts it, Reeves thinks she can magic up growth by doing a growth, growth, growth rain dance while every policy she & the government push is anti-growth in every way.
July 6, 2025
Jessica Philip on GB News just now, she still claiming she will raise £1.8 billion from her evil VAT on private schools. It will actually raise a net negative sum and do vast damage. She was alas not asked why private school users should pay four times over while others all get their education for free. And what was the reason to justify this absurd and damaging market rigging?
She also said economic growth is vital so why are all this governments policies anti-growth dear.
She wants to see more male teachers in primary schools – I agree with this. About 14% male currently.
Jess does at least come on the GB News though unlike most of this truly dire Cabinet.
July 6, 2025
Phillips was selected from an all-women shortlist to contest Birmingham Yardley in June 2013 so clearly approved of active anti-male discrimination.
Jess Phillips studied economic and social history and social policy at the Leeds. I assume she missed or just totally failed to understand the lectures on economics and growth or any on fare trade and competition in say education, healthcare, energy or transport.
July 6, 2025
Bridget Phillipson, Oxford 2005, French and Modern History, 2.1
July 6, 2025
Ideology: read Animal Farm.
They believe in collectivism and the EU is a collective organisation, which exerts control over member states and their citizens. It is not democratic; its structures mirror those of the former Soviet Union; it is Socialist.
The USA is a democracy, Capitalistic and individualistic.
Labour prefers the EU because they are Socialists; they want to control the people and they want everyone equally poor. Except themselves, of course.
July 6, 2025
Pigs at the trough? The road to hell is often paved with good but misguided intentions? The Russian Revolution?
July 6, 2025
They are the Pigs, the rest the various animals.
Look at Communism and you see 99.5 % downtrodden, no quality of life, no prospects, no freedom.
The 0.5% living off the best the world can offer.
Take your pick?
July 6, 2025
@Donna +1
July 6, 2025
The political class contains too many who are either clueless about or indifferent to the consequences of their decisions. They think only of jam today, paid for by somebody else. Perhaps the accelerating rate of company failures and unwillingness of the bond markets to lend to the government might change their mind. But it will have to get a lot worse before sanity prevails over the current insanity.
July 6, 2025
Perhaps the opposition could precipitate things by suggesting they won’t honour excessive bond yields when they get into power.
That might scare away the bond markets and force the government to balance the books.
July 6, 2025
Our politicians believe in themselves more than in the market economy. They seem ever more deluded about their power to “change the world”. From human behaviour to physics, nothing is beyond being altered by their power and superior intellect.
In its more trivial form, there is today’s example of German politicians saying that ice cream parlours should sell their product to poor children at max €0.50 per scoop, because this will improve equity and increase their sales.
In its extreme manifestation it amounts to a God delusion – for example that at any point in time we are the biological sex that we claim to be, or that we can manipulate the climate to however we want it to be.
Starmer and his crew think they know better than Laffer. We need politicians, and bureaucrats, with more intelligence and greater appreciation of their fallibility. For all Trump’s crass hubristic bluster, he has better understanding of humankind, more compassion for humanity, and more common sense than a thousand Labour front benchers.
July 6, 2025
If we look at Parliamentary history we see MPs with an intellect and gravitas their comtemporaries could only dream of. We used to have visionaries and courageous people who got things done. Today we have soft-headed pygmies who are more concerned what people might think about them than they do about getting their job done correctly.
Look at this cabinet for example. We have a very ordinary man as PM, a cry baby Chancelllor, a confused Foreign Secretary, a Home Secretary out of her depth and a bigotted Education Secretary. This country does not have a single capable person at the top of government. Wes Streeting is the only exception.
Until MPs are selected based on merit only this deficiency will continue. Parliament needs to ditch the quotas, the ‘postive’ discrimination and the image obsession and select men and women of substance again.
July 6, 2025
Reform has a few MPs with the intelligence and vision to save this country but they need many more. There lies the problem. Can they over the next four years attract the calibre of candidates necessary to turn this country around? It will not be an easy task to steer our nation back to greatness, and I fear that if you look at the demographic of the under-30s, we have already lost our country, and nothing will bring it back. Politicians over the last fifty years should hang their heads in shame. They have achieved what wars and invasions never managed to do which is to destroy the culture and genetics of the indigenous population. Population replacement has happened and this seems to have been the plan of the few New World Order megalomaniacs who run things.
July 6, 2025
No candidates of any calibre are accepted. They all have to fall short of Farage, so the bar is very low indeed.
July 6, 2025
@Christine -thier greatest asset is they are not the ‘others’ if they don’t succumb they will walk it. Reflect on recent history Starmer in the run up tothe election never showed his true hand or intention, he won because he wasn’t the Tory’s, and they y lost because they disenfranchised the country’s Conservatives.
July 6, 2025
The simple fact is Politicians and Government’s for decades have forgotten that people work for themselves and their families, not for a Government.
The above is not being selfish, it is being sensible, you need to help yourself first, before you help others, that is why in the real World all emergency instructions say exactly that, put on your own life vest, breathing mask first, otherwise you will be incapable of helping others.
July 6, 2025
The Labour Party is no longer the party of working people as very few working people would agree to their lives ruined in this way. In fact, it will be those who work who will bear the greatest cost and the greatest poverty for this disaster.
It’s about time the Reform Party set up its own union so that working people have a proper alternative.
July 6, 2025
The US operates with a far lower level of job protection than either the UK or Europe. There is not the same level of health and social cover either. We look at the US and think how lucky we are but we are not generating the neccessary wealth to support such luxuries and are slowly bleeding to financial death as a nation.
When the collapse finally comes all these “benefits” and “rights” will be swept away because no one will lend money to a bankrupt country that cannot pay its way in the world. Ultimately, there are no free lunches but the Liberals/Left won’t believe that until reality hits them in the face.
July 6, 2025
“No tax on tips” may not be as good as it sounds.
For example, it will not apply to payroll taxes. Tipped workers who don’t make enough to pay federal income taxes (i.e. the lowest earners) will see no benefit from this change. This has been calculated as about 37% of all tipped workers.
It also doesn’t cover service charges, so back of house staff (cooks etc.) will also see no benefit from this irrespective of their income.
It’s also projected to add $40 billion/year to the US deficit.
Reply It cannot both cost the Treasury a lot but not benefit employees!
July 6, 2025
Milton Friedman, “I am in favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it’s possible.” me too.
This as governments invariably spend and invest funds so much less well than individuals do.
July 7, 2025
Read what I wrote again.
Back of house staff – no benefit.
Lower paid tipped staff – no benefit.
It’s only higher paid tipped staff that will gain anything from this. This is yet another tax cut for higher earners that does nothing for lower earners – the premise of Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill”.
FYI, the US federal minimum wage for tipped staff is $2.13/hour, and because of the way that the US minimum wage structure works, a tipped employee working a 40 hour week has to earn $206 in tips to see a single 1c extra in their pay packet as employers are allowed to use “tip credits” to cover wages.
July 7, 2025
If an employee is mot paying any tax, it is difficult to award them a tax cut.
Given the American tipping culture $206 is readily available
July 7, 2025
Good point Narrow.
Americans tip 20% and often more for service.
To get over 206 dollars in tips in a week would be very easy.
Say a server looks after just 5 tables in a restaurant.
Average bill per table 50 dollars
Table turn in an 8 hour shift 3 times
Total bill value…750 usd
20% tip =150 usd in gratuities per day !
But Peter doesn’t like President Trump nor tax cuts.
July 6, 2025
Why?
Socialist education system in secondary schools and universities.
July 6, 2025
The US goes for common sense and growth, the UK goes for more idiotic socialist ideology, giving away more of our hard earned taxes, and an early decline.
The socialists are pushing for a 4 day week to make companies more dynamic – what absolute nonsense!
Some leftwing councils have already adopted it, but it will take more than a miracle to make them efficient.
A shorter working week has been on the socialist agenda for decades, and of course it is just what we need right now when our productivity is already so low!
To further strip the UK of resources, HMG continues with its mission of WEALTH TRANSFER. Do we really have a spare £96M tucked away that we can not make better use of? No doubt Syria was very grateful – but isn’t it time other Arab nations funded other Arab nations?
The US shows the way things should be done while our socialist government, now that they finally can, are determined to impose themselves on us in every destructive way possible.
July 6, 2025
“UK government want to lock us into a failing poverty machine called the EU”
Why ? Because for left-wingers in the Conservative and Labour parties the EU provided/provides a means of imposing left-wing policies on the UK in perpetuity irrespective of the results of any UK elections or the wishes of UK voters.
OT but interested to see the government are making it easier for Irish citizens to take up British citizenship by scrapping the test for English and assorted other barriers. I wonder which Irish citizens will be keen to take up this offer ?
July 6, 2025
+1
July 6, 2025
You ask why our government doesn’t adopt US style growth policies and I think the answer is twofold. First, going for growth was merely a hollow aspiration in the Labour manifesto designed for electoral purposes, rather than a rational commitment. Secondly, no one in the current Cabinet has ever worked in the commercial world. They simply have no real interest in the private sector. Therefore none of them, if they had misgivings about a proposed policy or taxation measure, would be able to draw on commercial experience and raise concerns at an early stage.
Labour has never been interested in economic growth, the pursuit of inherently anti growth equality is paramount to them.
July 6, 2025
From the Media 2TK puts the UN in charge of UK tax, he has off-shored UK Tax Policy
“outsourcing tax policy to organisations that don’t reflect the priorities of the British people”.
‘Starmer endorses UN’s high-tax manifesto, Labour paves way for more levies on the wealthy, alcohol and fossil fuels ‘
In line with the commitment to the UN ‘Labour MPs are openly pushing for new wealth taxes, while “sin taxes” on alcohol, sugary and salty foods, and gambling could also be considered.’
The Tories warned that Sir Keir Starmer was deliberately making it harder for a future government to reverse Labour’s tax rises. Known as the Sevilla Commitment, the UN agreement was thrashed out at a five-day summit in Seville, Spain, last week.
July 6, 2025
In a Nutshell, UK tax is not now a domestic democratic policy just as with UK Health the UN is now in Charge – so what does Parliament do and why do we have one?
July 6, 2025
The above is extracts from 2TK’s new deal with the UN – https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/07/05/starmer-commits-uk-un-high-tax-manifesto/
July 6, 2025
It’s interesting to see how many of the bad decisions made by Labour are UN policy!
July 6, 2025
A two tier world by a two tier failure. Tax we now become a UN diktat and have nothing to do with Democracy
July 6, 2025
Now Starmer and Labour have international Law on their side the UN has called for them to raise taxes, Two Tier Kier will always obey none existent International Laws. The UN is not World Government, the WEF isn’t World Government – it is the UK Legislators that have the only legitimate means to do anything
July 6, 2025
The US and UK are countries who can manage or not manage their own economies but the EU is an economic union – it is a a collection of countries all looking after their own patches but pooling resources for a ‘common market’ – it doesn’t serve much purpose to compare apples and oranges – the EU is a project in progress and there are many countries in it not up to standard yet but also there are many countries lined up waiting for admission – so it can’t be all bad. On the other hand I don’t think UK or the US have anything to crow about given the downsides that we see daily in our TV screens.
July 6, 2025
So you have not seen the low level warfare on the streets of the EU? – so as long as it’s not televised that’s fine.
There are no thriving countries in the EU. Not one.
July 6, 2025
James,
Countries awaiting admission are potential dependents. They are the equivalents of the economic migrants paddling their way across the English Channel.
July 6, 2025
@James4 – its better to live in a democracy. Yes you can fail, but you can also get change through the ballot box. having unelected unaccountable Bureaucrats defining life in their own image is the path to ‘hell’
You need to correct your view of the EU is not an economic union, economics don’t come into it. It is a protectionist politburo for the benefit of the autocrats. The only economics is that it is the ‘people’ that pay to enhance the life and outlook of the unelected and unaccountable….
July 6, 2025
The USA is our ‘successor’ state – let’s hope it survives. It remains capitalist and (mostly) democratic.
The U.K. and it’s dominions was defeated by the European continent and it’s default politics.
The end.
July 6, 2025
I hover between the manifest incompetence of this government of ours and the thought that it might be deliberate. From utter devastation comes forth absolute control. We are still enjoying the devastation process, but the seeds of control have been sown. The economy , energy policy and just about everything they have touched has ended in devastation. Freedom of speech and thought are the beginning of absolute control.
I have heard the suggestion that in reality Labour are not the Labour of Nye Bevan, but are now out and out communists. Chagos for sure makes them traitors to our nation. Their attitude to Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, their political partiality to the application of U.K. law, their cosying to the EU, all suggest to me that they despise our nation and it’s people.
A reforming incoming U.K. government have challenges way beyond economics and energy policy. What is to be done about the HoLs, an establishment bloc waiting to snag any reforming government. Then there is the Supreme Court and judiciary, intent on applying law of their own interpretation. The clearance of the EU minefield of law and regulation. Never mind the problems caused by devolution, London being a prime example. Question, with its demographics, is London retrievable. Since the advent of Blair, unimaginable steps have been taken to destroy our nation state, and they continue under this rag bag led by Starmer. Pray for their early implosion.
July 6, 2025
‘Adopting US policies which promote growth and greater prosperity’: Sir John will soon have to provide a pensum explaining how US tariffs can promote growth. When did he have this damascene conversion and stopped being an advocate of WTO free trade?
Reply I do not suggest tariffs promote growth. Dereg and lower taxes do.
July 6, 2025
What a ridiculous post hefner.
Don’t you ever stop sneering on here?
The US have for decades allowed unfair tariffs to negatively affect their country.
It was long overdue they reacted to bring about fair trading.
July 6, 2025
Hefner we all KNOW that tarriffs do not promote growth and JR highlights that in this piece by comparing the EU (a massive tarriff fortress) against the USA. That is why the EU is poor and getting poorer – even the desperate on rafts don’t want yo remain in the EU – who can blame them?😂🤣
What US reciprocal tariffs will do is repatriate their manufacturing sector to satisfy local demand.
July 6, 2025
Well said Lynn.
Excellent post.
July 6, 2025
“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste and graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy.”
“online poll received more than 1.2 million responses”
“By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!”
The above was Elon Musk speaking
The Political Class and Leadership everywhere have ignored and forgotten their purpose.
July 6, 2025
I’ve always contested the view that UK live in a democracy. The FPTP and the Party hierarchy, now all Parties, have established a Central Office and systems that ensure local groups and constituencies fall into line. A few union leaders have got close to dismantling this basis but don’t last the pace to have a long term effect.
This being part of the Establishment holds the people in an iron grip, only civil disorder might change things.
July 6, 2025
Socialism depends upon making and keeping people poor and this explains all the policies emanating from our Civil Service, quangos, regulatory bodies, judiciary and “government” since PM Blair. They are using the CAGW hoax and its false Net Zero “solution” to sabotage our energy, economy and national security. Neither climate history nor current climate science shows CO2, the very gas of life, has any effect on global temperature. The Conservative Party became severely infected when PM Cameron started his “vote blue go green” and even today I read that the Conservative leader of Slough Council still aims to make his borough “carbon neutral” by 2030. Fortunately I also read today in the Guardian that the pollster, More in Common, has found that support for the UK’s target to hit net zero emissions by 2050 has fallen from 62% to 46%. If the Conservative Party wish to regain power they’re going to need to completely ditch their current policies in favour of Net Zero and mass immigration and this will require as a start to remove the whip from the leader of Slough Borough Council and ex PMs such as Cameron, May and Johnson.
July 6, 2025
Why? The answer is obvious. Socialists have ‘taxation’ printed right through them as if burnt through Blackpool Rock. That most of it is simply the result of their economic mismanagement is an inconvenient truth they never acknowledge.
They deliberately court the opinions of credit ratings agencies and the IMF, knowing that the latter will see only one solution to their monumental cock-ups: higher taxation. They then use this as an excuse to break all their manifesto promises. Wilson, Callaghan, Brown – the electorate has not forgotten or forgiven, even if woked-up private industry has been on a sado-masochistic DEI mission to shaft their shareholder owners. It was simply that the Tories veered left in 2020, and flaunted their narrow margin of not being quite as left wing as Labour, and we had to destroy them and their impudent self-illusions first.
July 6, 2025
The strapped for cash government is going to gift Syria with £94.5m.
I expect Ahmad al-Sharaa can provide David Lammy with a numbered Swiss account where the money can be deposited.
July 6, 2025
Socialism depends upon making and keeping people poor. We do not have high taxation to pay for high public spending, we have high, wasteful spending in order to justify high taxation. Taxation is deliberately made high in order to suck money out of people, keep CO2 consumption low, reduce peoples’ activities and freedoms and make as many people dependent upon state handouts as possible. That’s why, for instance, the FO has just pledged to give £94.5m to Syria and money wasted on DEI etc. in the public sector continues apace. Plus of course the recent deliberate failure to curb benefits in order to justify increasing taxes at the next opportunity.
July 6, 2025
PS :
And of course, Net Zero. An electricity generation system is being designed and built where eventually the costs to switch off wind and solar power excess capacity will be more than the cost of the renewable electricity consumed. This feature together with the necessity to run a parallel hydrocarbon fuelled backup system when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining will ensure high electricity prices and money wasted galore.
July 6, 2025
“So why does the UK government want to lock us into a failing poverty machine called the EU instead of adopting US policies which promote growth and greater prosperity?”
The answer is simple. Labour love bureaucracies as that means talking is more relevant than doing and can be controlled, and the civil service bureaucracy obviously agrees. The EU is entirely based upon bureaucracy.
July 6, 2025
A UK employee on the minimum wage working a significant amount of overtime at time and a half would now get caught up in the 40% higher rate tax band. With fiscal drag and falling tax allowances (in real terms) how long will it be before a standard minimum wage taxpayer working 40 hours a week also gets hit by the 40% higher rate tax bracket?
July 6, 2025
Sir John,
There are of course aspects from the US we should learn from, but this anti-social legislation is not one of them 13 to 18 million people will lose access to Midicaid till 2034 and millions will lose access to food stamps.
Furthermore more more than 3 trllion dollars will be added to the federal deficit.
So, no I disagree with you
July 7, 2025
Not very useful without reference to sources or at least a time period. The IMF shows Germany’s GDP per cap at US$55.91 year to June 2025 compared with UK’s 54.95 (current rices). So one might as well ask why the UK can’t do better in the EU as Germany does?
IMF data also shows that from 2016 to 2025, UK’s GDP per capita (current prices) has risen 33.7% compared Germany’s increase of 30.2% and that Germany’s GDP/capita was 4.5% higher than UK’s in 2016 and is now only 1.7% higher.
It really does not tell us very much.
The main reason for leaving the EU was because it restored sovereignty to the UK, as shown by post referendum surveys of reasons for voting to leave the EU. The economic arguments were always secondary for Leavers, although they were wound up, wrongly, to fever pitch by Remainers.
I would also add that Australia’s GDP per capita is US$64.55 in 2025 onthe same basis as above, ie 17.4% higher than UK’s. Perhaps UK should scrap the NHS entirely and copy Australia’s healthcare system as argued by Lord Hannan a few months ago. It is certainly far superior by outcomes and by value for money. However, since Australia currently suffers under a Labor government as hostile to the West and conservatism as UK’s Labour Government I would not recommend copying any current Aus goverment policies and certainly not its Green Energy policies. Despite the insanity, Australia remains a far richer (and healthier) country for its people than UK. But so what?