John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con):
Underneath the exchanges of words, I welcome the outbreak of agreement, given that the Labour party now strongly supports the idea of helping more people into work. I suspect that the Opposition will not vote against the main items in the autumn statement because they understand that the Government have had success in keeping so many people in work and promoting employment over the years, despite some extremely difficult situations. They also understand that that is an important thing for a responsible Government to do, and not just to get the benefit bill down. As Labour has eloquently said, life can be so much more worth while when people have suitable work, suitably supported, that gives them a sense of purpose and of contributing to their communities.
I wish to draw brief attention to the issue of getting inflation under control and the inadequacy of forecasts by the Office for Budget Responsibility and the Bank of England. It is extremely difficult for Ministers to conduct consistent policy when the forecasts are zinging around so much and giving different and often misleading ideas of what is feasible and what is not. I welcome the other placeās most recent report on the Bank of England, which highlights how the Bank has been unable to come up with realistic inflation reports over the last three years and has therefore taken inappropriate action. First, it loosened monetary policy in the covid recovery phase, and now its monetary policy is too tight as it seeks to adjust its past mistakes. I hope that the Bernanke review will get on with the important task of adjusting the Bankās models and coming up with a better answer to help guide our counsels, and particularly those of our Ministers.
I find it odd that we have a Monetary Policy Committee that is not interested in money and credit. As the other placeās report suggests, perhaps it should look at putting money and credit into its thinkingāmore diversity of thought is recommendedāand into the models to try to get them to work. What is the point of the committee sitting around trying to make decisions if the main data it is usingānamely, what it thinks the inflation rate will beācan be massively out? It thought that the inflation rate would stay at a pretty consistent 2%, when it was en route to 11%. That was why, for many months, the Monetary Policy Committee did not take appropriate action to rein in potential inflation. Now it is pretty sure that inflation will come under control, but it still has had difficulties and is constantly having to change its inflation forecasts in the meantime, as has the OBR.
The review rightly points out that when looking at money and credit in the economy, we need to look at the experience elsewhere in the world. Of the five most important central banks of the world, including the Bank of England, those in Asia have lived through exactly the same big escalation in food and energy prices as a result of the dreadful war in Ukraine. The two major central bank economies in Asia are very vulnerable, because they import a lot of food and energy, but their inflation stayed around 2%, whereas the three western central banks, including the Bank of England, took much more aggressive monetary action, printing a lot of money and buying an awful lot of bonds, and experienced the inflation rate going up to around 10%. They should pause and ask why.
The review also rightly says that the Bank of England should be more accountable to Parliamentānot to the Government, in any way to prejudice its independenceābecause it is in the process of losing us the most colossal sums of money. Successive Chancellors have guaranteed the Bank of England against all losses from their bond buying programmes, which started under Labour at the end of the first decade of the century and were escalated by the current Government in response to covid. We are now looking at a possible loss of Ā£170 billion, based on the latest figures that it has revealed. Every penny of that has to be paid by the Treasury on behalf of taxpayers as and when it is incurred.
There is absolutely no need for the Bank of England to make those losses bigger and more immediate by wading into the markets at the moment and selling those bonds in a hurry, at very depressed pricesāprices that the Bank has deliberately depressed in order to get interest rates higher. It could follow the European Central Bank, which wisely is not selling its bonds at a loss in the market but is awaiting their retirement when they fall due for repayment, when the losses will be less but it can still shrink the balance sheet, which is the main thing it wishes to do.
I hope the Government will look at that, because it has always been a dual-controlled policy: the bond buying required the signatures of successive Chancellors of the Exchequer. It is a matter of legitimate concern for this House when the losses are so colossal, and there is a direct impact on all public expenditure figures, public borrowing and so forth, excluding the Bank of England. As many in the debate will know, we look at the figures both cum the Bank the England and ex the Bank of England. The ex the Bank of England figures look very poor indeed.
I welcome measures in the autumn statement to promote more growth, which is crucial. The way to get inflation down faster is to promote more capacity, so any measure that gets us more capacity is welcome. That is why I am particularly keen that we be much kinder to the self-employed and small businesses. They can do more work immediately, but some of the tax penalties still weigh on them, preventing them from getting self-employed status or winning contracts, or preventing small businesses from growing quickly enough. I repeat my urging for Ministers to look at that: more capacity would be the best way to get inflation down.
I will put in one final plea to Ministers to find some money to cut the taxes on energy. They are making us extremely uncompetitive and are keeping inflation higher for longer. It would be a win-win to get some of the taxes on energy down.
November 30, 2023
A year on and my fit stepson is still unemployed, that makes 24 of the last 28 years on benefits.
No sanctions, no interviews just a weekly signing on.
The job centres are another government department joke. They have no interest in making themselves redundant.
November 30, 2023
So why doesn’t your stepson go where there’s work? As others have had to do, down through the ages.
November 30, 2023
Because this socialist Governmentās generous benefit payments make it not worthwhile for many to even bother. Inflation busting increases year on year, generous cost of living payments, no income tax or council tax to pay, help with the rent or mortgage and many other benefits the rest of us donāt enjoy. We just pay for it all with the highest taxes in over 70 years. What incentive do they have to get out of bed? None.
November 30, 2023
A friend (62) whose business went bust and ended up on Universal Credit said in 2022 he received about Ā£6,000 per annum, I think. Plus housing costs probably because he rented. Ā£6,000 seems far from generous. Even the ‘new state pension’ in 2022 was over Ā£9,000.
It seems there’s a huge incentive for those on UC to turn down short-term employment, say 3-6 months. It’ll be a nightmare going back onto UC. You’ll encounter suffering and hardship that make you hate almost everyone in officialdom. Consequently, many people who could work on and off choose instead to stay on benefits.
I heard complaints in the 1980s that ‘work doesn’t pay’. Plus ca change. Why can’t supposedly highly-educated people in Whitehall sort this glitch out?
November 30, 2023
They go to the council on a Friday and ask for emergency money because they run out. Even though they have smart phones, which apparently ate essential! Like giving illegal crim8nal migrants pocket money! Paying crim8nals in four star hotels- I wonder why they come here? Highly paid civil servant Rycroft in charge of useless home office did not even know basic numbers to select committee! Still Guido points out he has a pension pot most could dream about!
November 30, 2023
A couple of uni party MPs concerned by Von Der Leyan and Cameron recent comments will lead to UK will join CSDC treaty with EU giving the EU control over UK foreign policy and our military!
What do you think JR? Labour seem to signal this will be the case.
November 30, 2023
JoolsB,
This is nothing compared to security ministers response on radio today about missing 17,000 criminals.
It is okay, Security Minister Tugendhat on radio this morning admitted 17,000 missing illegal immigrants seeking or failing asylum are missing and the Home Office and govt do not know where they are!! Rycroft clueless. I wonder if this 17,000 who present a security risk to our nation and people therein, need NHS, education, housing? Security minister Tugendhat seems uninterested but pleased Cleverly might do something!! Were these criminals
people given taxpayers cash for pocket money or paid into a bank account?
November 30, 2023
The system that the government keeps in place tells him that he is better off not working.
Meanwhile we learn from the government āexpertsā that they had zero evidence that the masks worked and some that it made things worse. But they forced people and even children to wear these face nappies all day. The sick joke enquiry continues with the cover up.
The conclusions they obviously should be coming to are:- Lockdowns and Vaccines did huge net harm so why on earth were these new tech āvaccinesā coerced and permitted by āexpertsā even into children, Covid was man/woman made and funded internationally, the world tried to cover this up, masks were pointless & evil especially for children also why was the pre-covid pandemic plan of ānot to lock downā changed and by whom. Why were cheap and simple treatments that worked like Vitamin D etc. hugely suppressed?
Hancock today it seems.
November 30, 2023
So Sunak slipped through the āzero emissions vehicle mandateā yesterday at a cost that even the government estimate at Ā£127 billion Ā£4,700 per household. Vast car market rigging destroying wealth and pissing money down the drain Sunak. Also keeping your old car causes less CO2 than a new EV does and by a large margin.
āIt should be you the consumer who make that choice Sunak saidā lies lies and more lies from this man at best a deluded fool.
Mogg GB news had a good piece on this yesterday. Alas he had Quentin Wilson on who seems to be in the pocket of the EV car industry or perhaps just totally deluded – an art graduate needless to say. He even seems to think they are cheap to run! Even cheap EV cars can easily Ā£30 a day just in capital costs and car and battery depreciation. That before charging, maintenance, extra tyre wear, more expensive insurance, charging at home gearā¦ Then we have the no tax on electricity fuel bias too. Where will this tax be replaced from.
November 30, 2023
Yep, that’s what a lot of us were saying when Sunak announced the “relaxation” of nut zero to 2035… the zero emissions vehicle mandate still stood.
It seems all they’ve done is stretch it slightly so the % of EVS is slightly less each year.
With a fine of Ā£15k per car over the limit, that could mean:
1. People having to pay Ā£15k extra to buy the car they want rather than one they don’t want.
2. Car manufacturers reducing EV prices to get people to buy a car they othewise wouldn’t buy.
3. Manufacturers putting people on a waiting list until they are in a position to deliver a car without being fined.
The claim is that option 2 will turn out to be reality – but do we really believe that manufacturers can absorb those costs for long? Sooner or later they will either go bust by selling at a discount – or they go bust due to not selling much of anything.
The 4th option is that people just keep on fixing their older cars. Perhaps that’s for the best – a society that repairs things rather than the use-and-replace mentality of recent times.
November 30, 2023
Sunak stated recently we could trust him, how about you LL! He also stated he would serve with integrity, does he get your vote LL?
November 30, 2023
LL,
Known drugs were not used and smeared because otherwise the vaccines would not be allowed to be used under emergency procedures. If there were known drugs that could be used experimental vaccines would have to follow years of normal trials under strict guidelines. Those national health chiefs with skin in the game with big pharma should be investigated together with those who provided game of function funding to China.
Cause of pandemic does not want to be found because it might land back on US and UK front door!
November 30, 2023
And why are the vaccines still being promoted? I’ve had several text messages and emails from the NHS!
All of which, I’ve deleted.
December 1, 2023
You can opt out from the coercion via the NHS website. And I told my GP’s surgery not to bother contacting me about Covid or ‘flu jabs because the answer is NO and always will be. They both seem to have got the message.
November 30, 2023
I think the point Ian is making is that the situation he describes should not be allowed to happen. The govt should be preventing anyone getting 24/28 years of benefits when they are fit for work.
And of course, preventing fit people signing off as unfit – which the govt did when they introduced the tests for disability (and 70% of claimants didn’t bother to re-apply).
The other problem with this is that the stepson in question will now have 24 years of NI credits counting towards a State pension. This is due to changes brought in by the Labour govt many years ago. Pension entitlement should be based on actual work, not benefit claims.
The existence of Pension Credit is perhaps questionable, but as long as it exists, there is no reason to credit out of work people as if they are in work.
November 30, 2023
He doesn’t actually tell us whether he’s applied for jobs.
November 30, 2023
Because heās paid not to work. Itās the Governmentās fault.
November 30, 2023
+++
I sometimes wonder if it isnāt done specifically to enrage workers?
More of the vile ādivide and ruleā which has always served govt.s so well.
Elizabeth Fry was told in no uncertain terms by Newgate officials that she would be ātaken for a rideā but air head liberals fixate on their targeted ādeprivationā and pile on the benefits.
To the point where being employed is a mugās game.
November 30, 2023
Ian
Unfortunately there are rather too many around making the same life style choice with the same attitude, work should pay, but very often if you know the system well enough it is not worth the bother.
The system should be a safety net, and a safety net only for a sensible period of time.
It is one reason why our taxes are so high.
November 30, 2023
He is probably behaving rationally given the idiotic system that pertains. Why work 40 hours a week when you end up little or no better off after Tax, NI, commuting costs, child care & loss of benefits. Also many do a little bartering, cash in hand, DIY, shop cooks more efficiently with this extra time. The government system is mainly at fault.
David Cameronās return has put the pro-EU, anti-Israel blob back in charge
The Foreign Office has been emboldened to defy Rishi Sunak, and restart all of its old campaigns
ALLISTER HEATH in the Telegraph today is surely largely correct.
November 30, 2023
ā The review also rightly says that the Bank of England should be more accountable to Parliamentā¦.ā
Parliament has lost much of its powers over the years. Lots of things are now settled by other bodies.
The Supreme Court stops us doing various things. Other bodies and quangos now also get powers that have historically belonged to parliament. This is useful to an Establishment that wants to run things in its own way without voters or their representatives rocking the boat.
November 30, 2023
My son knows a house of multiple occupancy all fit able bodied young men have their housing paid ( by our taxes)
They get their universal credit
That evening it is all spent in the pub
They are able to do cash jobs to tide them over
Why are we paying for these young men to have this hedonistic lifestyle?
Welfare abuse
November 30, 2023
Mr. Redwood – one has to admire your persistence. I wonder how many MPs were in the chamber to hear you. And, of those present, how many were awake and not tapping their phone. As what you say is common sense, why doesnāt the government do as you say? Where do they think you are wrong?
November 30, 2023
+++
I very much doubt if they have the wit to understand what he is saying.
Pearls before swine.
November 30, 2023
My thoughts too. Unfortunately too many MPs appear to be either clueless chumps or unscrupulous charlatans. Most of them will not have been in the chamber to hear this intervention. Ministers also appear cloth eared, unwilling to listen or incapable of understanding the common sense that Sir JR has to offer.
November 30, 2023
Indeed.
They do not āthinkā at all it seems.
Just as Sunak, King Charles and Cameron do not see below.
Rishi Sunak is facing fresh outrage from climate campaigners after it emerged that the prime minister, the King, and foreign secretary David Cameron are taking separate jets to the Cop28 conference in Dubai.
Downing Street confirmed all three of the leading British representatives at the crucial summit ā aimed at cutting global emissions ā will each get their own private planes and doubtless at tax payers expense.
Not that CO2 is a real problem, but do these fools not see how moronic and hypocritical they all look? They clearly do not give a damn. A pathetic distraction piece by Sunak on the Hadrian’s wall chopped down gap tree in the Telegraph. He should read the comments, not one was positive that I could see richly deserved derision from all of them.
November 30, 2023
And add to that Ā£60 million give-a-way to countries affected by climate change and the USA only giving Ā£13.8 million -whose idea was that?
November 30, 2023
Mike
I do not think enough MP’s and some Ministers have a clue about big finance, when interviewed they just trot out the usual Party line garbage/excuse and never give a straight answer about anything that is really important.
The Opposition are no better, they always want more tax income, more Government spending, enough is never enough.
November 30, 2023
Hmmm I normally don’t read other replies, but I happened to notice two posts, including yours, as I scrolled down.
You’ve pretty much said what I was going to post. There were likely very few MPs bothering to turn up for a debate of substance. Even if the chamber were full, most of them wouldn’t understand a word. God help us all.
November 30, 2023
The current Governor of The Bank of England is clearly out of his depth. But then the Cabinet are also witless.
We are drowning in incompetence.
Who can come to our rescue.
A General Election will not help.
November 30, 2023
Yes, the BoE Governor seems to be experimenting and learning the job as he goes. Presently he is reversing the error of QE, something that we now know was foolish and excessive over the last 10 years. For every Ā£1 issued under QE, he is withdrawing the same amount from the economy under QT, by requiring the full face value of the Gilts it sells. Seems fine to me. The question is how much liquidity does the economy need left in it? There’s the experiment.
November 30, 2023
We knew QE was insanity at the time as are āone size for allā rip off 40% personal overdraft rates idiotically introduced while the foolish Andrew Bailey was at the FSA. Now we have the bust and he tells us just how dire the economy is but fails to see that he and Suank are largely the main causes. Sunak became Chancellor with inflation at 1.7% then drove it up to 11%+ now down to 4.7% and he expects credit for this! Was it the Dope Javid who appointed out to lunch Andrew Bailey?
November 30, 2023
@Bob+Dixon +1
The Governor is taking to the Media almost every day, in a campaign to deflect attention of his failures. He is his own PR guru. This Conservative Government, his ultimate Boss, and the ones that steal or hard earned taxpayer money to pay for the BoEās endless mistakes, gets to play the āfiddleā while the Country burns.
At the GE voting the 2 Chancellors back in is condoning the BoEās miss management
November 30, 2023
SJR : This is the post where I’d like to see what response you got from Ministers. Or was it just embarrassed silence, because they know you’re right but can’t or won’t change what they’re doing?
November 30, 2023
Even on this cold, winter morning I see we are exporting 3.9gw of juice.
November 30, 2023
We are running flat out in gas and nuclear. We have 2 coal fired units on and 0.5gw of open cycle gas turbine. We are a sliver away from power cuts.
We were inly exporting overnight when the demand was low to balance the grid. That will rapidly turn into expensive imports as the day progresses.
November 30, 2023
Well most of us very sensibly have gas and oil central heating and petrol and diesel cars. Do the maths with us all using EVs and heat-pumps then no chance whatsoever of having sufficient electricity or distribution.
November 30, 2023
At present:
23.6 GW of electricity is being provided by gas
6.3 GW by windmills, when we supposedly have 28GW wind capacity
So it’s obvious. We need to stop using gas and build more windmills.
Meanwhile, in a demonstration that the Not-a-Conservative-Party’s so-called Energy Policy has been an utter disaster, households who were foolish enough to get a Smart Meter are going to be paid a pittance today to use less energy. And in due course, if they don’t comply, the energy company could just switch them off.
I wonder how many elderly people will die of the cold this winter. I’m sure the Government will be as keen to investigate that as they are the thousands of excess deaths which have mysteriously occurred after the gene therapy coercion.
November 30, 2023
@ Donna “I wonder how many elderly people will die of the cold this winter” – fewer than died as a result of returning the Covid-infected back to care homes perhaps?
November 30, 2023
Wake me up when John publicly demands the abolition of the OBR and the resignation of Keynesian Remainer Bailey.
I can see the scam and so can John but as ever most Tory MPs remain silent for an easy life, until the dung hits the fan
We’re being sold down the river
Reply Instead of always saying the same doom laden things why not engage in how we can get the governing establishment to change.
November 30, 2023
To be fair, he does get some exposure in the Torygraph. I do wonder what sort of networks exist amongst the rank and file MPs. Can Mr. Redwood ever get a few hundred of them in a room and point out the facts of life – that a whole load of them are losing their job soon.
I strongly believe that one act – stopping the boats – would, ahem, turn the ship around.
November 30, 2023
JR,
You have eloquently shown it is an utter waste of time in your socialist party. What part do they not understand of your repeated advice? They do not want to change and, by now, you ought to have realised you are speaking and writing to people who do not share your view on most conservative principles and topics. So when will you change tac so that they will listen? Your party has only ch heād from pressure outside not in it! Cameron back for EU project fear, he hired former Labour ministers rather than listen to people like you, May was not interested in what you said, nor Johnson, it appeared Truss was interested. It was got rid of!! Does that not give you a clue to where the heart and should have your socialist left wing Lib dumb outfit is?
JR, most people on this site, like me, would have you in cabinet in a flash, successive Tory govtās are not interested in your views even if it costs the country a fortune or wrecks our culture and values in the process. Sunak has given away N.Ireland, not taken back control of borders or laws to stay aligned to EU as a vassal state,- Elgin Mrables.. please.
PMs have to deal with horrible leaders with opposing views, Sunak has a huff. Childish immature fool. If he had any balls he would have seen him told him to piss off and then agreed a press statement channels would be kept open. Better still link return of marbles for control of his borders to stop illegal i migrants coming here!
November 30, 2023
@Reply It is hard not to be doom laden, when all we get from this Government is speeches, platitudes, more reviews, more grandstanding and just a plain old refusal to just manage. They know how to Tax but havenāt a clue about the economy or controlling expenditure – so as the refuse their job we are left repeating the same negatives. Its now either the Conservative Party has to step in or it is the Voter as it is clear they have to go.
November 30, 2023
To reply – hard to see how we can easily with Sunak and Huntās green crap socialism to be followed by Starmer & what’s her nameās green crap socialism in spades?
November 30, 2023
Reply to reply:
Being nice to them won’t get change. They handle weakness easily.
November 30, 2023
Reply to reply.
By voting them out of power and breaking the Westminster Uni-Party. Starting with the Blue-Green Socialist branch.
November 30, 2023
Reply to Reply – vote Reform
November 30, 2023
reply to reply …I’m still waiting for ideas that will get the governing establishment to change.
Pretend if you must but no bugger out there thinks you have a hope in hell!
November 30, 2023
@ Mickey Taking – I disagree for you overlook that Sir John has enjoyed successes, like cancelling Chancellor Hammond’s NI increases and influencing Chancellor Hunt to reduce NI as announced last week. Persuasive, hard logic is difficult to refute, even by this rotten government. The importance of making the case rather than the alternative of silence would seem self-evident. If silence is best, why do you comment here?
November 30, 2023
The incompetence of the BOE and OBR cost us money. As a precursor the government are deservidly made to look stupid, but longer term it is the taxpayer that picks up the tab. It also places the UK at a disadvantage when the economic cycle swing in favour of growth.
November 30, 2023
If we are to benefit from the opportunities that Brexit have given us, we must reduce imports from the EU and expand our exports to them. Currently there is a huge opportunity to export renewable energy. We have the third largest renewable sector in the world, after China and the USA. We could easily electrify large areas of farming, new automotive factories, domestic solar installations etc if we could reform the planning sector. It’s currently still taking 12 years to approve a new onshore installation
What is the party’s response? A new fossil-fuel lobby influenced anti-grid upgrade pressure group. With 14 members. New electricity pylon distribution systems? Not in my back yard!
November 30, 2023
Tractor EVs, eh?
November 30, 2023
There are so may totally stupid people in government and they talk out of their hat. Why do they not leave things to those that do! I see they slipped in a reduction in timr for proper cars again , making a liar out of the PM.
A stupid ev will not pull the 1.8 tonne trailer I need for my business and a van is no use due to size of load.
These people infuriate me, they are pushing a fraud- no to their green way of life.
Can you feel my anger at their sly move yesterday!!!
November 30, 2023
Government or the whole of Westminster, bar a handful of exceptions?
November 30, 2023
So where is all of this exportable renewable electricity coming from? Today only 13% of the power generation is coming from wind and solar, 60% from Gas . Yesterday even less was coming from wind and solar.
You can build as many wind turbines as there is space to put them but when the wind does not blow they are useless.
What is your suggested source of back-up power generation?
November 30, 2023
We supposedly have 28GW of wind electricity capacity. Could you please explain why it’s only generating 6.3GW today?
And then perhaps you could explain how we’re going to produce all the electricity you are suggesting. Because doubling wind-generating capacity (at enormous expense), which is what is proposed, isn’t going to do it.
November 30, 2023
One in four actually producing, or operating at less than one quarter of capability? Which is it?
The answer doesn’t matter, the fact remains that wind is totally inadequate, and solar not much better.
November 30, 2023
There is no renewable energy to export. Have you not noticed. Our ā3rd largest investmentā is producing next to nothing. Any more of this investment and we will be bankrupt.
November 30, 2023
When governments say things like āwe will investā read āwe will piss down the drainā often with lots of corruption, bungs to mates, deluded group think and crony capitalism thrown in for good measure.
It it were a good investment tax payers money (extracted by force) would clearly not be needed and they would not need to rig the market either, as private investment would be forthcoming without such force or market rigging.
November 30, 2023
The National Grid is paying people to turn off their heat today because they expect a shortage.
November 30, 2023
How did you find that out?
December 1, 2023
“The National Grid has announced it will pay customers to use less electricity on Wednesday evening as part of its blackout-prevention scheme, as the UK faces more cold weather. It is the first time it has activated a Live Demand Flexibility Service event this winter, after a test event earlier in November.”
Reported on ITV and in several newspapers.
Will they also report how many people died of hypothermia?
November 30, 2023
The chancellors statement was again very anti-small business and in fact could be inflationary. I was at a board meeting yesterday and the SME said the impact of the Chancellor deciding to increase the minimum wage now could impact their bottom line severely, as it is not just the impact of the lowest paid, but the cascading impact of having to increase salaries of everyone in the company to ensure there is a clear differentiation for each role. To alleviate this additional cost, guess what they now need to consider doing, yes, increase prices. Very poorly timed, especially given the continuing high tax rates.
November 30, 2023
The chancellor is incompetent Simon!
November 30, 2023
Been watching the detail of what Elon Musk has been saying the last few days. What absolutely inspirational leadership. Proper integrity. Proper multi dimensional understanding of the problem domains he is operating in. A million times better than any elected politicians in the western world, certainly a staggering level better than our politicians and civil servants. We as a country need to do far better at being friends with Elon.
November 30, 2023
The private sector is always leagues above the public sector. Some private sector people, like JR, out of duty do service in the state sector too.
November 30, 2023
Alas they seem never to take JRās wise advice, had they done so it would have saved the country Ā£ hundreds of billions. Just John Majorās ERM fiasco and the pointless recession it caused must have cost over Ā£100 bn. Not even a sorry from John Major as he buried the Tories for three plus terms and we suffered under the Bliar, Brown disasters. Still not found a single positive from the Blair Brown Era a disaster – devolution, legal reform, the disastrous wars, the EU policies, the US extradition treaty, the bank crashā¦
November 30, 2023
“I suspect that the Opposition will not vote against the main items in the autumn statement because they understand that the Government have had success in keeping so many people in work and promoting employment over the years, despite some extremely difficult situations.”
——–
And I suspect that the current Opposition are, behind the scenes, panicking about taking over the complete shambles the Not-a-Conservative-Party will be handing over to them.
1. Economy wrecked and catastrophic levels of debt
2. Immigration, legal and illegal, out of control and “the natives” now revolting
3. The NHS falling apart with 8 million+ on the waiting list (and millions more waiting to get on the waiting list)
You’d be forgiven for thinking that the Not-a-Conservative-Party had deliberately engineered the clusterf..k.
November 30, 2023
Dona,
You forget the Uni party hiving off many costs to councils which are keeling over with bankruptcy notices! Despite highest Taxation and highest council tax rates- Tories promised to freeze but never did! Javid as CS reversed freezing council tax and hiked 5hem year on year, Javid got rid of detention centres for illegal immigrants and āwas proudā to announce at Tory conference when HS- what was the plan to house them, catch them and deport them? Cameron promised to sort out adult social care, instead given to councils to continue to fudge, now he is back what is the plan? Will quangos be scrapped, will they ever return to low tax party? Or will they rest on their laurels of achieving gay marriage?
Bring back Clegg at least low paid workers might get a tax break!
November 30, 2023
The windmills are not turningā¦
Our fires banned from burning
Weāre all bl**dy freezingā¦.
Soon we will be sneezingā¦
And thenā¦.
THEYāLL LOCK US ALL DOWN!
LOLā¦just watch them!!
November 30, 2023
Everhopeful : āTHEYāLL LOCK US ALL DOWN!ā
Yes, our new Foreign Secretary, the unelected Lord Cameron, has just signed a secret (Parliament will not see the details until Spring) āPolitical Dialogue and Cooperation agreementā with Cuba in order to learn how to keep us locked down and impoversished using the CAGW scam as an excuse.
November 30, 2023
Iād be curious to know what affect the average 15% excess deaths in many countries (Dr. John Campbell – YouTube channel) is having / will have on the global population.
November 30, 2023
are these supposed excess deaths people who if having lived longer would have produced more births?
Just asking.
December 1, 2023
The stats show that there is a high proportion of those in younger age groups (ie those below age 65), with many in their 30s, 40s.
December 1, 2023
not a lot of over 40s produce children. So how many ‘excess deaths’ were there verified as ‘Covid jabbed’ in their 20s?
November 30, 2023
Last day for the UK administration to notify the World Health Organization and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that it rejects the amendments to the International Health Regulations. The Philippines have just done so.
November 30, 2023
I watched a discussion of this topic on UK Column. I’ve given up since 2020 with most of the MSM. There are minor exceptions. The Spectator Australia has published some stories that would give BBC executives apoplexy but even the Speccie is a bit behind trusted former journalists on the internet … and lots of them, that’s been the sole ‘delight’, if you can call it that, of the past three years.
It appears that the Commons may debate this WHO process 17 days after the deadline has passed. This would be farce, were it not so tragic. It also seems that the UK may not have gone through all the steps needed for this signing up to WHO health tyranny to be ‘legal’. Raw power may have trumped legal authority. In any case, how can it be lawful to abolish the Nuremberg Convention, the common law right to bodily autonomy and other UK laws or precedents?
November 30, 2023
Appears to me that you have to much common sense for this government Sir John. Or maybe there is an alternative reason for their incompetence. If the country is bankrupt, all the easier to bring in CBDC.
November 30, 2023
Sir John
Well done for keeping the attention of those that are supposed to have the power but refuse it, on the real situations that matter to the Country.
Given all the irrelevant soundbites, off message speeches and general ālook-at-meā we get from this so-called Conservative Government. Even their speeches donāt tally up with their actions, āwe have given you a tax breakā ā but it will cost you the taxpayer 50% more in taxes? The truth, the reality all run the opposite of the real deed.
It is clear from all the āgrandstandingā that there is a general election any day now. The big difference this time around we are to be asked ānotā to vote for a good Conservative MP that serves their constituentās well. But, we will be asked to confirm support for our 2 WEF Lead Socialist Chancellors who are too frightened, to inept to see it is the UK they are supposed to support the UK, its people and not the Left leaning Collective āBlobā and the foreign powers they undoubtable are taking their orders from. We do not have a Conservative or even a Democratic Government these guys just as with managing refuse to support what they say they stand for.
November 30, 2023
I don’t know where you get this idea that government has been promoting employment, unless you’re referring to importing people to take up low paid jobs.
From my perspective as a small business owner, government has been active in discouraging employment. This through policies of high business taxes (employer’s NI at 13.8%, CT hiked to 25%), excessive bureaucracy and high housing cost policies.
If government was serious about promoting employment, abolish employer’s NI, let the state take responsibility for employment bureaucracy for very small businesses.
There is a large number of people of working age who are economically inactive in this country, but if they have acquired a mentality of entitlement they may well be unemployable.
November 30, 2023
shush …you really should stop embarrassing people by stating the bleedin’ obvious.
November 30, 2023
Sir John
I would take issue with some of what you say. The OBR was created and is managed by this Conservative Government. 13 years the results they(the OBR) have produced have been wrong and what is called a Conservative Government have done nothing ā like everything they(this excuse of a Government) just simple refuse their responsibility
November 30, 2023
Sir John
I would take issue what you say. I can see you have to play nice and be seen to support the Government, but to be clear you are a Conservative and as with other Conservatives they (this Government) donāt support you. Without going through every point, you have to ask who has been the Government over the last 13 years?
Who created the highest taxes in 70 odd years. The highest peace time debt the UK has ever seen. An inept BoE where the management has failed in every sector has been responsible for?
We have NetZero Laws and Taxes not seen in any other competitor Nation that have led to this Government trashing the UK economy.
Who has failed to manage the NHS, while throwing billions of our money at it?
Who has failed to ensure our energy security, and has instead handed it over to foreign actors and giving them vast amounts of UK taxpayer money? The UK Taxpayer under this Government gets to fill the coffers of Foreign Governments ā that is a weird scenario.
We have the highest number of criminals entering the UK, with a Government and a Parliament refusing to take responsibility for UK Laws, instead subbing them out to unelected unaccountable in a far away land. No other free democratic Nation does that.
We have a so-called Conservative Government than instead of getting so-called āBrexitā done has left the UK in limbo, ruled by the EU and incapable of running itself. Now we have a Brexit hating unaccountable Foreign Secretary telling the World we must rejoin the EU, must return to undemocratic unaccountable rule as soon as possible. The UK Parliament must be let off from making decisions that affect the UK.
Its an endless list of failure, and this Conservative Government by not being Conservative owns them all.
November 30, 2023
All the Countries woes can be solved by this Conservative Government stepping up and managing the whole Country for the people of it. But they have shown time and time again they wish to take orders and serve others, not those that empowered and paid them.
November 30, 2023
This government behaves like delinquent children unwilling to do their homework or change their bad ways. Sensible wiser MPs and others repeatedly act like responsible parents urging them to do better, but they carry on carelessly soiling their seat regardless.
Keir Starmerās reverse Midas message shook the PM into shock mode at PMQs yesterday. Realisation of wrongdoing is the first step to Reform, leading to better.
November 30, 2023
āI will put in one final plea to Ministers to find some money to cut the taxes on energy. They are making us extremely uncompetitive and are keeping inflation higher for longer.ā
The whole point of Net Zero is to make us uncompetitive and to impoverish us whilst destroying our social cohesion with massive immigration. These are deliberate policies.
There is no CAGW, if there was, governments since passing the CCA in 2008 would have been pursuing nuclear energy as this is the only low CO2 emitting energy source which is affordable, reliable, abundant and secure.
Instead they have pursued renewable energy and electrification without any economic means to deal with chaotic intermittency or the funds for the enormous upgrading of the National Grid. A policy akin to jumping out of a plane and designing and making the parachute on the way down.
The whole CAGW narrative is a scam. There is no global warming caused by increasing levels of CO2 (natural or anthropogenic) because of IR saturation as shown by the work of Happer & Wijngaarden whose calculations on the real atmosphere, including water vapour (omitted in the IPCC models), fit so well with the measured data that they even show correctly that CO2 COOLS rather than warms above Antarctica. Professor Happer explains
December 1, 2023
IPCC, Chapter 8: Water cycle changes.
I am sure OR will explain us how IPCC models without water vapour can produce āwater cycle changesā. Or is it that OR does not know what he talks about? Just asking.
November 30, 2023
Sir Johns' interventions highlight his economic knowledge and his views of the lack of control and the approach of the Treasury to our present problems ; if only they had followed his advice we would not be in the dilemma that has now to be overcome . Sunak has a wealth state of life that has kept him immune from the difficulties that families have and still face ; he has not shown the skill that was expected of him and Hunt as his lap dog simply follows his direction . Only recently , since becoming Prime Minister,(personal comment left out Ed)The country should not be influenced by the BoE and the OBR ; they have made too many errors of judgement and the composition of their teams have not been changed to overcome the dilemma they have caused . The debt level that now exists means that generations to come will still suffer an unreasonable tax burden .
November 30, 2023
If there is a shortage of food because of Ukraine (which I very much doubt) then why arenāt we promoting the growing of more food in this country? Why the re-wilding, why cover our farmland with houses, wind turbines, new roads, and solar panels? None of your governmentās policies make sense unless they are following the instructions of the WEF to reduce the food supply. We have just seen what has happened with the elections in the Netherlands caused by their Government wanting to destroy over 3000 farms. I believe they want food shortages and they want the country divided with different factions fighting each other. All a cover so we donāt see the introduction of their draconian authoritarian laws to control the populous. Just look at the hate speech laws the Republic of Ireland has hurried through to see where Western countries are headed. Meanwhile, the EU is pushing through the removal of vetoes and the right of MEPs to vote. The UN has just voted to introduce a worldwide tax on companies and people. The WHO is in the process of taking over our health sovereignty. All this has been carefully orchestrated. People need to wake up before itās too late and remove all the main political parties.
November 30, 2023
Christine :
You are correct.
The only way to make sense of these policies is that it they are all enacted to destabilise and destroy the democratic western capitalist system. There is no logic and no other common theme.
November 30, 2023
So the Bank of England is losing huge amounts of our money….. Ā£170bn
Maybe we should sell a few more of our assets.
How much would Greece pay us for the Elgin Marbles.
99.9% of the people in the UK have never seen them and will never see them.
That 99.9% could use the money.
Ā£100bn for the Marbles ?
November 30, 2023
It is not just Greece who have lost their marbles. Look around Downing St and Westminster, possibly even Buckingham Palace.
November 30, 2023
Sir John, You continue to lobby for the Bank of England to do the obvious and sensible thing and not sell bonds now.āThe BoE doesn’t change tack and the Government show no signs of intervening.āPerhaps this is considered cock-up by you and other like-minded MPs on the backbenches.
Given the lack of progress, how about working backwards from the result of the BoE’s actions to find possible incentives within their constraints.āConsider too how it interacts with the effects of the other two in the clique: the Fed and ECB.
November 30, 2023
Hello, Sir John. I understand your frustration at the occasional negative comment, but I think it is aimed at the Government, BOE & OBR rather than you. You are highlighting what is common sense to many voters, but the PM and Chancellor simply don’t listen. I write to my MP, who simply but politely tells me I am wrong and the Government is right.
Andrew Bailey should have been sacked, as should whoever leads the OBR, for incompetence. Unless there are consequences for failure, there will be no change. The same applies to the Permanent Secretaries of the Civil Service, starting with those two buffoons at the Home Office. Meanwhile, please keep up the good work you are doing. It is hard work to publish a daily diary article, so you are doing a great job; thank you.
November 30, 2023
Seconded. Sir John is one of a tiny handful of MPs who are doing a great job. It’s just a shame it’s pointless with the WEF Puppets we have in charge.
November 30, 2023
From todays Media – “Politics latest news: Sunak blames former Tory PMs for record net migration numbers”
The blame game keeps coming
“Andrew Bailey has claimed he is not an āultra-pessimistā just days after warning that the outlook for the UK economy was among the worst heād ever seen.”
“Inflation may not fall as quickly as quickly as hoped, Andrew Bailey has said,”
Its everyones fault, you didn’t honestly expect these people to manage or listen
November 30, 2023
and just to prove how out of touch with the voters, and how incapable of reading the room and basic politics he is, Rishi has massively increased the “aid” to India, after his recent “one off” 2 billion extra he gave them.
why is the political system so incapable of fixing this mess?
December 1, 2023
I think that rather depends on which voters you have in mind, Iain. In July the Indian diaspora everywhere celebrated India’s success in landing a spacecraft on the moon, in a year when we sent that country Ā£33m in ‘aid’. The Coalition government announced ten years ago it would end bilateral aid to India by 2016, following a policy of removing aid from middle-income countries. That hasn’t happened now the Tories are in sole charge, so as usual we have to ask cui bono?
November 30, 2023
when does the new credible party emerge? the Conservatives are sinking and cannot be saved.
December 1, 2023
As Sir John appears to speak total common sense, I would like to see a contra argument from Sunak and Hunt, as to WHY Sir John is wrong!
Like most Conservstive members, I voted for Lizz Truss in the leadership election ( who was probably undermined, inter alia, by the usual suspects of Bank of England etc.) , and found Sunak did not in many ways match up in the hustngs. His school has the motto “Manners Makyth Man”. Well! When he eventually became leader, I wrote to my MP suggesting that Sunak should at least try to incorporate as many of Truss,s ideas as he could. Of course he didnt!