Here’s a thought. If the public sector got back to working as efficiently as it did in 2019 there would be no black hole in the budget. The Chancellor would not be rummaging through the left’s jumble sale of taxes on the better off, code for anyone who works hard or dares to run a business or save.
According to EY if public sector productivity had kept up with private sector productivity since 2019 we would be £80 bn better off. My estimate say if public sector productivity had not fallen the state would be around £30 bn a year better off. Total public sector productivity is 4% down.
It should shock more people that public sector productivity is still well below 2019 levels. It should be screaming headlines. Labour backbenchers should be demanding action. Billions have been pushed into the NHS by the last and the present government. The public sector has spent a fortune on new computers and smarter software. So why the fall off in labour productivity? Why a negative return on all that investment?
It is a sobering thought that all this century the public sector has missed out on the big advances in productivity elsewhere, whilst stinging the taxpayer for the digital revolution costs. Even worse for 25 years there has been no overall public sector productivity gain. It fell under Labour up to 2010, rose under Coalition/Conservative to 2019, then tumbled under covid.
We have all been made to find out about public services through impersonal websites, make payments electronically, try to get our queries answered by computers standing in for staff, yet staff numbers have gone up. What are they all doing? Why do service users have to kept apart from these additional people who are meant to serve us? Why so many more managers and fewer useful people to help us keep up with increasing regulatory and tax demands the aggressive computers impose on us?
October 25, 2025
If the state sector stopped creating pointless red tape and complience work for the private sector the productivity of the private sector would improve hugely too. The current and last few government have endlessly created more and more such parasitic jobs.
So much of what the state sector does is pointless or worst still hugely negative something we do not want to be produced at all. Net Zero, Covid Vaccines, the Lockdowns, the vast tax over complexity, the vast over complexity of employment laws, the test and trace app, the PPE procurement fiasco… fire all the people doing parasitic jobs and release them to become plumbers, engineers, builders, entertainers, farmers, roofers, electricians… the fewer lawyers, HR people, tribunal workers, landlord licencing parasites, tax advisor and a more accountants… the better for everyone other than these essentially anti-productive workers!
October 25, 2025
Energy costs reduced to US levels (about 1/4 of the UKs as they could be without the net zero religion) would vastly improve propductivity too. Companies would become more competitive and thus be about to increase their turnover and benefit from economies of scale. This rather than loosing turnover to overseas companies with lower costs and far less red tape.
Someone tell Reeves that a bonfire of red tape is a win, win. More red tape is a tax on companies that produces less revenue and depresses profits so less CT tax and fewer jobs! Alas the whole agenda of this government is the complete reverse. More workers rights, more employment red tape, more attacks on landlords and tenants, more licencing, more green crap building controls, more rigged markets like energy, schools, transport, healthcare… more equality lunacy to bankrupt Birmingam Council and many others… These right do not even help good workers just the lazy incompetent ones (they then have to carry) and do not help tenants either as landlords sell up and businesses close down.
Good for lawyers and insolvency people though!
October 25, 2025
LL, I wholly endorse what you write on the topic of bindweed over/regulation, and I understand that you have an extra interest and insight where medicine is concerned.
As a clinician I have seen the extraordinary additional burden of CQC compliance affecting staff from cleaners to consultants, from secretaries to senior management, all in thrall to the intrusive and unproductive interference by a body and its staff who have little real knowledge or responsibility in dealing with the cases coming through the doors of the hospitals and clinics throughout the land.
Quangos and committees have a habit of rewarding the sanctimony of the individuals who sit round the tables and invent ever more gaslighting scenarios for which their edicts are the only solution.
October 26, 2025
Indeed people who have no experience of working at the coal face telling people who have how it must be done is rarely a good plan. OTT red tape is hugely damaging to productivity, the economy and often to safety too. This in both the state sector and the private sector!
October 25, 2025
I volunteer in our local hospital. The waste and overstaffing is appalling. Dozens of people employed just walking around collecting and delivering documents.
Actual clinics empty by early afternoon and the place is like a ghost town after midday Friday
The paid staff who control the volunteers has risen from 3 a few years back to 8 today.
Nurses in groups standing around the nursing stations while the phone rings endlessly.
There’s no shortage of cash in the NHS just an abundance of waste.
October 25, 2025
Wow thanks for the update
October 25, 2025
Concur …..its what I’ve witnessed also
October 25, 2025
@Lifelogic – “stopped creating pointless red tape and complience work for the private sector” – flawed response, that would lead to being ‘not needed/required’ personal self defeating to all those involved
October 25, 2025
Indeed but strong government could over come this resistance alas since John Major through to Starmer they are done the reverse every time often pushed too by EU lunacy too.
October 25, 2025
So much of what the state does is hugely negative – so we do not want this doing “more efficiently” we want to stop it being done, save all the money and release the people doing it to get productive jobs doing positive things in the private sector!
Road blocking and mugging people for pooring a cup of coffee down the a drain for example.
Reply Yes of course. This is however an important big black hole which even this government says it wants to something about.
October 25, 2025
Sir J. has opened a very large Pandora’s box here. This data is known, so why has government become to inefficient and has nothing been done? It occurred mostly under Tory management – why? Whose responsibility is it to make the public sector efficient? Didn’t there used to be a ‘minister for government efficiency’? And so on.
This is why the ‘uniparty’ are seen as simply riding the gravy-train, and damn the electorate.
Change is coming, one way or another, and it won’t be comfortable for many.
October 25, 2025
I don’t think it will be confortable for any of us Peter. Change on the scale required will be fought tooth and nail by the Left, the Public Sector, the Unions, some charities and the feckless. There will be much disruption in the process. Currently, we seem to be rapidly acheiving third world status, buried in bureaucracy, tax, indifference and dependancy. A ‘Soviet’ Union of Britain where we are told everything is “going splendidly” but nothing works in reality. The road back to sound economics and a properly functioning state is not going to be an easy one but the sooner we start changing direction, the better.
October 25, 2025
Very well put.
According to the D Telegraph, Ms Powell is on the left of Starmer! She is the preferred candidate of the constituencies Labour Party. Imagine, Starmer gets the boot and Powell moves into No. 10. I really struggle to foresee what kind of Nation we could become if a left winger such as Powell takes control. We must hope that we can vote in a sane party before disaster hits.
October 25, 2025
@Peter Wood – so true. The incompetence of Parliament and its Government is forcing its own demise. The only hope is we can find our way to becoming a Democracy, representative that work with us and for us.
October 25, 2025
If they want to why are they actually doing the complete reverse.
October 25, 2025
The main issue is the public sector is overstaffed and this will always constrain labour productivity (and UK GDP growth) as long as it persists.
I think the government and Treasury are under the impression being overstaffed is not a problem because if you increase technology and capital investment you will get increased labour productivity that way. There are two problems with this assertion though. If you increase technology it can lead to increased output (and thus output per worker) but how do you sell the excess output when the demand does not keep up with it? You can’t sell it so you remain with unsold output, a bloated workforce, low labour productivity and you have also wasted your money on the additional tech investment. The only way this solution would have worked is if the demand capacity was there for the extra output but as it isnt the tech solution has failed.
The other issue of increasing capital investment on an already bloated workforce will have the same issue. The excess output cannot be sold as the demand is not there for it.
Therefore the only way to increase labour productivity given there is a bloated workforce is to reduce the workforce. Once that is back to efficient proportions then you can increase capital investment and use technological advances. At such point the excess output can’t be sold thus labour productivity starts diminshing you need to reduce the workforce again and so on….
Maybe the Chancellor of the Exchequer can explain this to the Cabinet and but given she is unqualified for the job I doubt it ever occurs to her.
Maybe the Treasury can mention it to her but as they are constituted by Woke-Marxists who stubbornly want mass immigration and a huge labour oversupply whatever the costs they will never mention it either.
October 25, 2025
Good morning.
Because all those friends and supporters need paying off.
October 25, 2025
A lot of the loss in ‘productivity’ is the inevitable result of allowing staff to ‘work’ from home, an unsupervised place where both efficiency and productivity generally plummets.
October 25, 2025
The lack of productivity is simply the Unions demanding more from their Public Sector managers who are also union members and getting it. The policy of bigger departments having higher paid heads of department ensures head count is never reduced only increased. More technology requires more specialist employees and more employees without a balancing reduction in those the tech replaces.
That is why the Public Sector have become the unbearable weight on the back of the economic activity which should allow the UK to be the biggest economy in Europe.
We have the resources we have the technical skills we have the manpower, what we don’t have is a unionised Public sector willing to stand aside and allow wealth and growth to happen.
More red tape anyone? No. How about higher taxes to fund more Public Sector employees?
October 25, 2025
Well we know what they’re doing at the Home Office: sitting in circles and listening to each other whinge about how awful it is being expected to do your job. I expect the same kind of nonsense is going on at all the other Ministries.
Perhaps we should be grateful that they’ve actually turned up in the Office and aren’t sitting at home surfing the net, watching daytime TV and painting their toenails in between brief bouts of “working.”
October 25, 2025
The answer to the questions you pose in your last paragraph is clear. They are clueless, useless and couldn’t care less.
October 25, 2025
From the point of view of socialists, vastly increased numbers of recipients of welfare and other benefits is a huge increase in output. 9% more recipients in one year ’24-’25, while the number of civil servant increased by only around 1%. For socialists this is an INCREASE in productivity. The aim is still that of the Blair/Brown years, to make the middle classes, if not everyone, a client of the state.
October 25, 2025
The socialists are also afraid of unemployment, so they suck as many as possible into state jobs.
Of course this deprives the wealth-creating sector of personnel, almost as important as the increased taxes they have to pay to fund the State.
October 25, 2025
It is too many “employed” the state sector that is the main cause of unemployment. It renders the wealth creating sector unable to do so.
October 25, 2025
May I take issue with you suggesting that the new jumble sale of taxes will hit the better off.
The new taxes will hit everyone who works, has been prudent, and invested and saved for their future.
The self employed to not get sick pay, holiday entitlement, or pay, have to fund their own lead generation with marketing and spend time looking and quoting for work, pay all of their own office overheads, carry third party and Public liability insurance , sometime’s needing professional liability, as well as funding their own transport and work vehicles, and office equipment all of which need to be insured.
They also pay 100% of their own Pension contributions (no employer contributions for them) often need to employ an accountant for HMRC and Vat returns, or spend time doing it themselves.
It is reported that the average self employed worker has an income far less than the National median wage.
Then we have those who used to work and are now Pensioners, taxed on the State pension and any income from savings with returns above £1,000, on top of the what will be double taxation minimum of 60% on unspent pension funds as from 2027.
By comparison those who work for Government departments have guaranteed income, Generous sick pay, paid holiday entitlement, an extra London weighting allowance, (even though they can work from home and save transport costs) a gold plated and very generous pension (impossible to get on the open market) scheme, where the employer (taxpayer) makes up to a 25% contribution of their salary into it, having already funded 100% the cost of their Salary.
Why does the government attack those self employed, small business owners or workers who simply want to better themselves.
More taxes on those who work and save, but more and wider Benefits for those who CHOOSE not to work, is not the answer.
October 25, 2025
@Berkshire Alan. +1 so very true.
Parliament and its Government go for those that are to busy surviving to have a voice.
The Loudest voice is the State sector all 6.14 million of which the Civil Service alone account for 4 million. That is out of a total of 36 million working age people of which only 27 million are actual in work. That number includes State workers. So approx 21 million workers are doing the heavy lifting out of a population of 67 million. All with targets on their back
To that you have to note the ‘taxpayer’ is directly funding Union activities within the State Sector, with meeting and time off to keep the Union machinery in action. You could also suggest this Government a Union sponsored Labour Party has to keep its focus on its embedded 6.14 million assured voters, those it will always keep on-side.
The target will always be those that have the least voice.
October 26, 2025
Because people who can survive without Government “help” are dangerous.
October 25, 2025
What are they all doing?
That’s always been my question.
From anecdotal evidence I have gathered a few are working hard (but tend to leave and get another job). The rest:. 1. “Sick leave”; 2. “working” from home (or sometimes from the beach) ; 3. suspended on full pay; 4. surfing the web in the office; 5. “training”; 6. union business; 7. On a jolly (the event management business would be nothing without the public sector); 8. connive to shape government policy; 9. connive to avoid doing things
The government (just like the last one) is being taken for a ride and we are along for the ride too.
October 25, 2025
It’s certainly very noticeable that staff are hardly ever actually available. They are always either off or about to be.
Also, someone being off is now a “reason” why something can’t be done.
What happened to planning that essential tasks are taken over by other colleagues before leave is taken?
October 25, 2025
Large scale proof that while working from home is a useful tool which can enhance productivity overall it leads to lower customer satisfaction and output?
October 25, 2025
The beatings will continue until morale improves.
A fish rots from the head and we might first look at the productivity of our legislators. For all the ‘line by line scrutiny’ in Parliament most new (and old) legislation falls apart at the first sight of a barrister. An amateur way of doing things but it’s British.
The UK now has more lawyers and accountants per head than even the USA. Because we are now a service economy – about 80%.
Service economies, the consultants tell us, are notoriously difficult to improve productivity – so our problem goes with the territory. The days of Time & Motion men wandering round production lines are long over.
The one certain thing about lawyers and accountants is they don’t like paying tax and are good at avoiding it. Something our slow witted and careless Parliament should have seen coming decades ago. But they are mostly lawyers and accountants….
So we got rid of the miners and the factories and offshored like billy-oh. That was the mantra, but no one thought ‘what will we do then?’. We can try and turn all our young people into Marketing MBAs etc. But even Marketing MBAs need something to flog and all the production lines are in China and they hired a few MBAs themselves and learned the trade.
Our fish has rotted from the head as a glance in the Daily Mail will tell you. Follow Chairman Mao and get rid of the ‘Old’, you won’t like it and it will be painful but it will do you good.
October 25, 2025
Those who draft laws are professionals.
October 25, 2025
Astonishing figures. As well as not having to pay ever more taxes, we’d have better outcomes in health, education etc if public sector productivity had kept up with private.
The interesting questions are when and why the two figures (productivity) slipped apart. Also, of course, what we can do to improve it.
October 25, 2025
In other news I’ve seen a cracking example of what the declining “output” of the public sector means: the illegal immigrant whose sexual assults on a woman and 14 year old girl sparked the Epping riots has been “accidentally” released from prison. He’s now on the run.
The prison service said “It is down to human error. It appears the wrong form was filled out or something similar. There is an investigation to get to the bottom of it”.
It’s laughable, but also serious.
October 25, 2025
Probably the most high profile recent criminal and he is given £76 and told “Off you pop”.
October 25, 2025
The most prominent recent criminal out of about 80,000 is released? If anyone thinks this was “in error” I have a bridge for sale. A classic dead cat on the table event.
October 25, 2025
They use the public sector to keep unemployment under control
October 25, 2025
@paul – for some weird reason growth in the public sector also becomes growth of GDP
October 25, 2025
+1
Call it the state sector because it is anti-public. Like the state replacing fathers (income providers) it does a very bad job.
October 25, 2025
Civil Servants should be paid according to the value of results. No worthwhile results = No pay.
October 25, 2025
There seems to be an attitude that it’s ok to take the money & not turn up for work ?
As you say John it is very worrying that no one is getting a grip on productivity
October 25, 2025
Time to find out if “nothing would happen” to public sector services through implementing Vivek Ramaswamy’s idea of at once dismissing half of all civil servants?
October 25, 2025
To allow anyone to read by themselves: ey.com ‘Mind the productivity gap: The productivity sector potential’, 13/08/2025, 10 pp.
October 25, 2025
Sir John
That brings us back to why is the Media being briefed as to Prince Andrew (he is still a prince) and the on going inter family discussions?
Could it have something to do with the Labour Party’s new but old school PR Guru(spin doctor) being on top of his brief and deflecting interest away from the flaws of Parliament and its Government? Could it be the nuances of what is causing the economy therefore the country to go down the pan are so many and so varied that deflecting interest to gossip is easy ‘the soft hanging fruit’?
Lynton Crosby. is given the credit for as AI search result qualify it. “A dead cat on the table” is a political and communication strategy where a shocking or controversial issue is intentionally introduced to distract the public from a more significant problem. This “dead cat” is meant to be so attention-grabbing that it diverts the media and public from the original, less desirable topic.
The media is desperate for income, money so will resort to what ever it is felt the viewer/reader will take the bait on so as to expose their advertisers.
October 25, 2025
“It is a sobering thought that all this century the public sector has missed out on the big advances in productivity elsewhere, whilst stinging the taxpayer for the digital revolution costs.”
We’ve had socialism since Blair in 1997 and the “heirs to Blair” onwards. Socialism depends upon making and keeping people poor. Part of this is increasing the number of state functions and employees to keep spending high and wasteful in order to justify high taxation. The second part is the economically damaging and unnecessary transition to electrification using the false claim that CO2 is a pollutant and that anthropogenic emissions will cause a climate catastrophe. If CO2 is a pollutant because it is a greenhouse gas, then why is not water vapour which is a far more abundant and powerful greenhouse gas? And how is it possible that a cooler atmosphere can heat a warmer planet, a necessary requirement of the IPCC’s invalid radiative warming theory?
October 25, 2025
Until there is a ruthless cut in the numbers, you can forget any productivity increase. What do 617,000 public sector employees do all day? For example, for several years I have renewed my road fund licence online, as I assume most drivers do. But I bet the DVLC headcount is the same today as it was ten years ago, and is more likely to have increased!
October 25, 2025
“…If the public sector got back to working as efficiently as it did in 2019…”
Does anybody think the public sector was working efficiently in 2019? If 2019 levels of inefficiency are being held up as standards to aspire to, we’re really in trouble, aren’t we?
October 25, 2025
+1
October 25, 2025
Some idea of how much the Labour members like this government and its policies: only 16% OF MEMBERS bothered to vote in the deputy leader election.
The Labour Party is a dead man walking.
The Conservatives will never be forgiven for what they did to us post Brexit.
The Green Party has buried itself under the Climate Change Scam and by supporting illegal immigration.
The Lib Dem’s are nowhere to be seen.
The Reform Party is not capable of delivering – I wish it was! But we will all vote for it anyway.
We desperately need need all those like Douglas Murray, Neil Oliver, Javlin of this blog, Rupert Lowe etc etc etc and including you JR, to provide a competent alternative to Farage.
Britain expect every man to do his Duty. The critical battle is one of wits fought in the House,
October 25, 2025
Two examples of what they do while numbers are increasing from this weekend.
3 [yes three]nspectors in Richmond saw a lady emptying a small amount of coffee dregs down a drain before she was going on a bus. They chased her and fined her £150.
In order to tender for the Small Nuclear Reactor programme, the newly created Great British Nuclear is requiring firms to prive their ESG credentials by proving that they employ 50% female staff. As three are very few female engineers, the only way to do this is to expand the DEI and HR departments, where all the staff are women. This also applies to small subcontractors.
The planning committee statement of my local council is out, complete with consultations and statistics. It is 800 pages long and it would take hours to find anything relevant to local decisions.
HMRC is bringing in digital tax returns which, as computer programmes save so much time, are going to be required every 3 months on software costing £100s. Next year it’s for all businesses and landlords with a turnover around average earnings. Eventually everyone even making a bit of money on the side will spend much of their time doing tax returns.
October 25, 2025
I now understand how ‘rome fell’
October 25, 2025
I have just been trying to obtain a UK passport for our granddaughter who lives in Thailand with our son and his wife, her mother, who is Thai.
All looked good, but as she is under two years old it looked impossible to do because it says someone like a UK solicitor has to confirm her identity, but it specifically says that the person needs to have known her for two years!
I called the passport help line and pointed this out, only to be told that the guidance is all wrong and it was to be changed ! Essentially we can use a UK solicitor who can verify her father’s identity, having known him for two years ! That we are able to do.
The point is, that this system must have gone through endless development and testing and is live, yet contains such fundamental errors. How could it be allowed to go live in this state ? Whoever was and is in charge is clearly incompetent. Everyone applying for a passport for child under two born abroad will have had this problem.
We have also had great dfficulty registering and verifying our own identity with Company’s House for their new Director’s register that goes live in November. This despite being directors for more than a decade.
October 25, 2025
The solicitor needs to identify you for example with a passport. The solicitor can identify you if you are applying for a passport.
HMRC seems to have no trouble identifying me when it comes to tax owed.
October 25, 2025
Four examples of what they do while numbers are increasing from this weekend.
3 [yes three]nspectors in Richmond saw a lady emptying a small amount of coffee dregs down a drain before she was going on a bus. They chased her and fined her £150.
In order to tender for the Small Nuclear Reactor programme, the newly created Great British Nuclear is requiring firms to prive their ESG credentials by proving that they employ 50% female staff. As there are very few female engineers, the only way to do this is to expand the DEI and HR departments, where all the staff are women. This also applies to small subcontractors.
The planning committee statement of my local council is out, complete with consultations and statistics. It is 800 pages long and it would take hours to find anything relevant to local decisions.
HMRC is bringing in digital tax returns which, as computer programmes save so much time, are going to be required every 3 months on software costing £100s. Next year it’s for all businesses and landlords with a turnover around average earnings. Eventually everyone even making a bit of money on the side will spend much of their time doing tax returns.
Corrected
October 25, 2025
“The public sector has spent a fortune on new computers and smarter software. So why the fall off in labour productivity?”
I think you may have answered your own question right there Sir John.
Anything described as “Smart” is inevitably anything but smart.
In my experience software does not save any time overall and is usually a big time waster.
October 25, 2025
The very first instinct these days seems to be, “how can I pass this onto someone else?”.
That is the first lightbulb that lights up in their heads when confronted with having to do something.
As a result we all end up going round in circles.
October 25, 2025
The general public have trouble identifying and grasping intangible concepts like productivity and often Public Sector workers too (unlike Private Sector workers where survival is vital).
Since the 1970s when computers challenged the status quo and often default lifetime employment in the same Company for many workers, redundancies accelerated but this unemployment was reduced by new roles.
During this period of upheaval in the Private Sector the Public Sector was armed with computers but remained unchanged. In fact they took more workers on and created more jobsworth wasteful roles partly due to the strength of the Unions who have allegiance to Labour and the politicization of this sector.
October 25, 2025
Its all a choice …£20 billion chagos islands, £20 billion foreign aid, £20 billion net-zero, £20 billion illegal immigration & crime, £20 billion for US nuclear weapons & fighter planes, £20 billion on covid enquiry, £20 billion funding Bank of England, £20 billion paying doctors etc, £20 billion to EU and the UN …..its all a choice
October 25, 2025
Phew, £20 billion here, £20 billion there, before you know it it adds up to real money.
October 25, 2025
Lucy Powell in her victory speech proclaimed “Division and hate are on the rise,” she said. “Discontent and disillusionment are widespread. The desire for change is impatient and palpable”.
“not being bold enough in delivering the kind of change we promised”.
So, it a nutshell more division, more hate of the people, denigrate and punish all those that do not accept them as the dictator as the definer of how to think and act. The philosophy of Socialism is the Worker against the rest, which end up with a Parliament fighting the people, the workers.
This is someone, the same as seemingly the majority in Parliament that ‘hate’ the UK that has never worked, held down a productive job yet knows how to feed of the taxpayer. Destruction, entitlement and ego at their heart.
October 25, 2025
Sir John
Here is a thought on the gullibility of a Nation. Someone says if midday is no longer at midday, and that midnight is no longer the darkest part of night, so we can have more daylight by moving them.
So, these times of day are moved twice a year, yet not one extra second of daylight is gained from what would have happened regardless.
Some say, those whose ego wanted to change the World, it creates more daylight working hours, and makes travelling safer. Conveniently forgetting everyone should have a choice to do what best suits their needs and desires, and as a rule that’s what real productive people do.
Edinburgh and most of Scotland is in latitude terms somewhere west of Bristol (outstanding but true), so more or less a different time zone. Someone in London saying that their midday is the only midday is insulting. So, the clear thinkers adjust in ways to suit their needs, not in ways to suite the self-esteem of a no-body.
Translate that thinking to all the other directives we get from our Politburo and you start to see the flaws. What one entitled persons ego wishes to dictate doesn’t sit well in all instance, it very often fights all those outside their personal bubble. Yet because these things come about from a messed up out of step Parliament there are still those that think what is said must be true. Why?
If the clocks don’t change at 1:00 am will there be more or less daylight than if nothing had changed?
However, if Parliament and Government steps back from its perpetual meddling the whole country changes, the whole country is released from this oppression based on personal ego and political ideology, then everything changes for the better.
October 25, 2025
Agree – scrap changing the clocks around
October 25, 2025
+1. My dogs don’t fall for it. SN5 dinner at exactly the same time regardless of what the clock says.
Mind you they also know the difference between XX and XY.
October 25, 2025
Your dogs sound more clever then our government
October 25, 2025
Conservative Reforms offered at conference; Is it a Start of the Cultural Change needed?
So called Conservatives need to understand Poverty, and the effects on People, first!
Please watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gTgloPR0Aw&t=300
Interesting!
But, More then that, British Reform needs to start with PAYE, Taxes, Local Councils, Planning, Regulation, …
Releasing the Price Mechanism, again! Needed with an Enterprise Culture! De-pressed with the alignment of the EC/EU Single Market, Customs Union, Universal Credit, …
Can a Price Mechanism work with Devolution, as it is? Integration of the Regions are a basic tenet of a Free, and Flexible Market, with the movement of Capital to the Regions! Having a Leftist controlled Wales Assembly, a SNP, and a NI Isolated from the British Customers/Market, and Westminster, is not!
With the State trying to move to Digital ID’s, the Banking industry relaying on Smart Phones for applications (for Accounts, etc,…), AI systems (including State Surveillance, not just GCHQ) , all exposing the British People to the control of the State, Big Corp, and USA/EU Jurisdiction!
Hardly the basis of a Free Market?
Also; Start by Repealing Maastricht, a Hard Border between NI/SI (Force them to Negotiate; Fishing, Trade, Access,… ), EC Steel and Coal, 1951/ECHR ?
Falling Productivity is not caused by having Computers, just their improper use! All British (Public/Private) Industry need to move away from Microsoft, and accept British based Systems/Software. E.g Fedora 42 or Redhat, even with such difficult Learning curve; But, including Open Source Security Features like VPN’s/Tor’s/Firewalls/Proton!
Repeal RIPE/On-line Snoopers Charter; They do not Safe-Guard Children, they just give lazy parents an excuse! Control the use of Smart Phones of your under 18 year old!
Where are the Conservative Voices?
Lots to do!
October 27, 2025
‘Conservatives need to understand Poverty, and the effects on People, first!
Please watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gTgloPR0Aw&t=300‘
Surely, the key question is not to continue to just create Plebs (fodder – a dead burden on the Economy), but how to allow them, or even encourage them, to be Productive, even if they are not as Productive as some?
So, the Motive would be the ability to Save (higher Disposable Income, over the Cost of Living), and the Opportunity to become self reliant, build their own homes, gaining access to the Capital they require!
Isn’t that the point of the Enterprise Culture?
The Conservative motto should be ‘Setting the British People Free’!
I thought it was, during the 80’s?
October 25, 2025
The unadulterated arrogance and duplicity of Ms Reeves is breathtaking as she plans to impose an even larger tax burden on working people and employers. How does she think any of this will create growth? Labour’s reckless policies have failed and are deeply unpopular, so how will yet more taxation improve matters? Starmer’s clearly more comfortable going abroad back slapping, hugging and patting his failed European chums chairing summits pledging money and support rather than concentrating on the myriad problems facing the people of this country? Frankly it’s outrageous.
October 25, 2025
ian B, that right, they also keep GDP of their old job and add there new job with them as new GDP, that why they love inflation as well.
I think was 2014 when they frist started to fiddle GDP with drugs sold on the streets and something else, anything to in the G5.
October 26, 2025
In my experience of the Civil Service (albeit now receding into the distance), the explosion of IT and computer technology in the early 21st century was used to increase the amount of pointless and petty bureaucracy, not decrease it.
It resulted in recruiting a lot of junior grade record keepers on relatively low salaries for the SE but which were quite generous in the “left behind” areas of the country where many of them are based, and with very generous terms of employment/pensions.
October 27, 2025
Good afternoon Mr Redwood
One of the biggest reasons for the fall in productivity was the implementation of IR35 – this disastrous Labour Party tax policy was inflicted by Theresa May’s government on the public sector and then by Boris Johnson’s Government in 2021 – despite the Conservative Party promising NOT to do this when in opposition.
It resulted in re-classifying self employed people as employees and deductions of 46% at source which crippled businesses in so many ways, caused inflation and increased unemployment and unnecessary early retirements.
There will be no possibility of any form of recovery until IR35 is absolutely abolished.
Regards
Ian Done (IR35 victim)