Yesterday in the Lords I raised the question of why the government taxes companies, institutions and people too much, then offers a bit back in subsidy, grants and benefits. This is destructive conduct leading to less tax revenue and more public spending as businesses close or lose out and people lose jobs and income. There was of course no Ministerial answer.
High energy using businesses close or move into heavy losses and cut jobs thanks to carbon taxes. Steel collapses so taxpayers have to pay big subsidies to struggling producers whilst the Treasury rips them off with taxes.
The example we were discussing yesterday was Colleges of Further Education. They have to pay VAT and higher National Insurance, so then the government has to find them more grant.
Government puts VAT on school fees at private schools, so then it has to find more money for state schools to pay for the extra places needed as pupils are priced out of the private sector.
Government imposes extra taxes on employing people, destroys many jobs,so has to increase its spending on benefits for more unemployed.
Please stop this destructive merry go round that bloats the state and makes the country poorer. Higher taxes do great damage.
June 10, 2026
But but but this is the plan
Get everyone and everything reliant on state handouts. This is Marxist theory plain and simple.
Burnham wants to bring in a land value tax which eventually will mean people can’t afford to pay so the state can seize the assets.
We are being taxed to extinction to fund illegal immigration and idle folks in the dole.
Together with Milibrains insane net zero policies, I’ve never been more ashamed to be British. The whole world is laughing at us.
June 10, 2026
@Ian Wragg – of course it is. Bow down you ‘minions’ you have a new Lord and Master. The ego of the few fighting and suppressing the many. The ‘Plan’ starts with destruction, division and discrimination. The hate demonstrated for the Nation and its People knows no bounds until it is built to pamper the few the Marxist Rulers.
3 more years and the UK will be unrecognisable.
June 10, 2026
Good old capitalism doesn’t fit into the EU/UN model
June 10, 2026
Lord J,
Try a novel tax raising idea, see if the government benches take more notice.
June 10, 2026
Labour is daft but Switzerland is sensible. Doing work is good and should not be penalised with high taxation. Swiss folk are not charged tax on income but on purchases. Excessive consumption would cause shortages. The expense minimises excesses and waste.
June 10, 2026
Government imposes extra taxes on employing people, destroys many jobs,so has to increase its spending on benefits for more unemployed.
Well the liebour party as to look after the couch potato white lightning drinking slobs who’s never done a single day’s work in there existence on this planet, very hopefully the tide will change and watch these these parasites forced into any job from cleaning ditches to picking vegetables in fields in the middle of winter
June 10, 2026
So at last after the horrific events in Belfast another cross religious group have formed a paramilitary group to sort out immigration. It’s been a long time coming but inevitable.
June 10, 2026
IW,
Well it worked with the Belfast Romany gypsy problem a while back.
Listened to Radio 4 news this morning, the irritating interviewer was interrupting constantly to get the Northern Irish politician to condemn violence while she was still attempting to explain the reasons for the disturbances.
Don’t expect similar in England any time soon. Northern Ireland folk have very recent experience of serious street protests.
June 10, 2026
We need to beef up our Church of England.
The Church of England of people such as Jane Austen is great. Her father was a vicar and Jane Austen was a devout Christian (although not loud about it). Her family were also gentry, in the armed forces, merchants in the city, in the arts – as well as in The Church. Jane Austen sums up so well the values of our great country or what they should be and what C of E should be embodying. And she was no socialist or left wing. She hated the French Revolution (I’m with her). Really haunted her (Mansfield Park was partly written in response to French Revolution). To me Jane Austen (along with the political philosophy of Edmund Burke and thinking of Samuel Johnson) best sums up what Conservatism should be (down-to-earth, practical, pragmatic, based on fundamental Christian values and best of our Greco-Roman values too – as well as charm, humour, being unassuming, modest, and masculine men and feminine women) and that also includes – or should include – the C of E too.
And there is a real battle going on here as Bannon, Trump, Farage etc trying to inject something toxic into what true Conservatism / Republicanism should be (whilst we also have to battle with socialism and WOKE as well).
June 10, 2026
As the world’s markets prepare for the inevitable interest rate rises later this year, one should look at the main drivers. Profligate spending by governments of money that they have not raised by tax, or by successful exporting and trading, has caused unbelievable levels of sovereign debt throughout the G7
This country is no exception. In 2010 the Coalition government inherited a national debt of ~£1.5 trillion. This month, it’s approaching £3 trillion. The Labour government currently spends approximately £110 billion annually on debt interest – which equates to roughly 8.5% of total public spending. This money also has to be borrowed, with the principal then added to the national debt. Just like Zimbabwe, or Venezuela
Unfortunately, taxes are going to have to rise as the Labour government will not cut the welfare bill. They will, however, continue to allow predatory American companies to buy British firms. The latest of which is our sugar/sweetener company Tate and Lyle. Why? It brings in foreign currency which helps to keep the value of Sterling high
June 10, 2026
John, your wish for government to adopt low taxation and hence real economic growth, will not be adopted by this administration. The reasons? Labour are wedded to ever higher taxation and ever more state intervention in commercial/economic activity is because that is socialism. The institutions have become captured by the socialist mindset unsurprisingly, as they are recipients of state funding. It is no surprise when they are constantly asking for more money as they are a socialist construct. To provide the instruments of state with their endless demand for support, the chancellor has nowhere to go but to the non institutional sector i.e. the Private Sector for the money. She could borrow of course, but as the Nation’s credit card is maxed out, the only option (if savings are not demanded) is to tax the non state funded sector.
As you cast your eye around the chamber, ask yourself. How many of the honourable members there are part of the over bloated state problem, and how many are looking for the sensible answer? How many are saying we have to shrink the costs of running the country?
The size of the state administration is too big.
June 10, 2026
what else do you want people to do when their freinds and family are being murdered and raped? when their kids are displaced from the best schools? when we get sub 3rd world health care? when our borders are not defended? where we have to work into our 70’s to pay for immigration? when all our jobs are taken by people who hate us? we have multi tier justice, democracy is not working. John you are being far too mild, normal people are SREAMING.
Reply I want major changes. Violence on the streets makes things worse.
June 10, 2026
John, the long list of violence on our streets is definitely making things worse. That street violence, i.e. the attempted beheadings and stabbings, drive through and bombings just keep coming.
It is long past the time government and its agents put a stop to it.
Civilised society deserves better policies and better protection. When is it ever going to be provided?
June 10, 2026
politicians have given in to violence countless times, from the poll tax riots, to Northern Ireland troubles, to Cypriot terrorists, and so on, and so on.
and politicians ignore the will of the people constantly.
this is not going to end well.
June 10, 2026
@Reply – unfortunately for all of us John, you are a lone voice, a very lonely voice that as demonstrated has no support in the HoC or the HoL. Yet your thoughts have the support of the majority of the Country, a hiding to nothing, but please don’t ‘stop!’
June 10, 2026
And our policians and media wonder why so many people are flocking towards reform
June 10, 2026
it’s interesting that the immigration route of flying into Dublin, crossing the land border into northern Ireland, is now under the spotlight because it has rained trouble in northern Ireland. most people coming in this route get a ferry to England (no ID needed) and swarm into the south East of England.
June 10, 2026
typical of a Labour most of us remember the note David Cameron had in his pocket no money left good luck. The next government will have to make decisions that will not be popular who ever they are. Don’t even start me on Ed Miliband .
June 10, 2026
@Rodney Needs
In perspective
Back in 2010 – Gary Dutton ex-Tory Conservative donor wrote in his book. Sitting next to then Tory leader David Cameron at a lunch. “…in conversation he(David Cameron) asked a question that in a more public forum would have been absolutely taboo. ‘What would you have us do when we get into power, Gary?’ I thought all my birthdays had come at once!
“This opportunity alone must be worth my 50K contribution, so I replied: ‘Three things. Stop immigration dead in its tracks, outlaw more political correctness being inflicted upon us, and thirdly – come out of the EU and let’s get back to the common market concept.’ There was a general, ‘Hear, hear!’ from those assembled. Sadly, the only one who did not appear to hear was David himself. His retort to me was to the effect of: ‘But we can’t reverse these things.’
Nothing changes…
June 10, 2026
It’s a Labour government Lord JR. It’s what they do.
June 10, 2026
Yeah, but it doesn’t feel any different from the last tory government
June 10, 2026
There is a very simple answer to your question. Leftwing, collectivist governments such as the one we have now don’t believe in market mechanisms. They want the state to control allocation of resources. So the productive sectors are taxed and regulated to the maximum extent possible and the proceeds extracted re-distributed as the state bureaucracy sees fit. To the extent everyone receives ‘benefits’ from the state and feels grateful for it, the better for the left politically – people can be hoodwinked into thinking they benefit from the merrygoround. Gordon brown saw the leftist logic in this and so much to promote it.
June 10, 2026
Should chancellors set an example by promising not to avoid tax?
June 10, 2026
Avoiding tax is a highly moral thing to do as people use and invest it so much better than the government does and it is the only way to stop them wasting even more. Voting does nothing.
June 10, 2026
Indeed plus the war on Non Doms and the rich causing so may to leave (1/6 of the Sunday Times rich list), wars on motorists so they cannot afford to get to work or disappear in pot holes, red tape wars on landlords so they do not let, red tape wars on employers so they take no one on, wars on farmers and small businesses so they do not invest in the UK, wars on car buyers or heating systems – doom loop lunacy from Ed, Reeves, Phillipson, Starmer, Lammy!
June 10, 2026
I haven’t commented for some years now but never fail to read your blog and almost always agree with your view.
I regard you as the best PM we never had.
A sincere thank you for challenging group-think and poor governance, even in your party. I honour you.
June 10, 2026
I am also a less common contributor, but I agree that John is bang on the money.
There are times when I disagree with him, but usually that’s because I haven’t discovered he is right and I am wrong.
June 10, 2026
I like the first paragraph and particularly ‘there was of course no Ministerial answer’. That’s because they don’t understand it. Obviously if they studied PPE they didn’t pay much attention to the E part.
Those that have only worked in the ‘income guaranteed’ sectors will never understand economics.
June 10, 2026
You recently stated “Conservatives wish to be the “dwarves on the shoulders of the giants”, seeing further because we inherit past wisdom and knowledge.” We have elected dwarves as our political leaders!
June 10, 2026
We visited our friends yesterday and happened to meet their son-in-law. He was unfortunately made redundant earler this year, as his former American employer is pulling staff back to the US. He is an experienced (chartered) engineer and has now applied for over 100 jobs and received zero replies back. He went to the ‘Job Centre’ recently for an “Interview”. He went prepared and took copies of his job applications to show he’d been looking for work. The person interviewing him told him “don’t worry about that – you don’t need it”. He was then quickly guided through the various forms and that was it. He’d been “processed” – next applicant please. He was clearly shocked at how easy this had been but also the apparent complete lack of interest shown in anything other than getting the forms quickly filled in. Nor does he seem to have any follow up appointments..
I left thinking – Houston, we really do have a problem!
June 10, 2026
Is anyone surprised that’s been the name of the game this century. The country although everyone seems to have conveniently forgotten has still to pay-down Gordon Browns’ debts. Those that followed although they had the power, the option, they just refused, in fact they drove the Socialist ideology further and faster.
A Parliament intent on ‘playing’ rather than doing
June 10, 2026
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2vljzw5ego
The last pots made by Denby have been fired thanks to the Climate zealots and high energy costs. Founded in 1809, all of these employees will have to find another job or welfare. We can buy Chinese blue pots instead, made using coal. They were left off the list of handouts.
June 10, 2026
Between this Crowd and the Last they have cancelled and expelled more money from the UK, than was done in than the UK generates. Yet they still think ‘tax’ is the answer.
June 10, 2026
so starmer is now going to subsidise companies which import workers from abroad.
remind me where that was in a manifesto.
we are under an evil dictatorship now, this is not democracy.
June 10, 2026
There are two things at play here; Sameness and State control.
Finding new ways to find anyone with some income to tax no doubt keeps many an otherwise dull socialist mind active overnight, but what they are really aiming for is for us all to be exactly the same. A socialist mind cannot easily compute differences, so making everyone, every organisation equally ripped off and poor helps their thought process. It’s a part of the design they have for us.
Through this process of taxing everything to have poverty as a common denominator of life, with very little freedom of action as a result, it means more and more of us have to depend on the state for our existence – and that just happens to be another key part of their unstated design.
June 10, 2026
There is a £28 billion funding shortfall for defence and proposals have included £10 billion of cuts, especially to the capital budgets of DESNZ and DfT. Some in government are trying to push the total funding increase below £13 billion… – https://order-order.com/2026/06/10/reeves-says-she-will-hike-taxes-again-to-pay-for-defence-boost/
The Bank of England’s quantitative easing (QE) program is projected to result in a net lifetime loss of roughly £115 billion to £125 billion,
The Bank of England’s controversial decision to sell off UK debt has cost taxpayers £36bn in just four years, according to new figures.
Deutsche Bank said Threadneedle Street’s decision to actively sell government bonds, rather than letting them simply mature, meant taxpayers faced much heavier short-term losses. – https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/06/09/bank-of-england-bond-sales-cost-taxpayers-36bn/
Secret dossier reveals foreign aid and Covid relief loans were appropriated by gangs and hostile states
More than £28bn ended up in the hands of those wishing to harm Britain – https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/06/08/revealed-britain-paid-billions-to-terrorists-and-gangsters/
Britain’s welfare bill is set to surge by £18 billion in a single year, enough to fund a huge expansion of the armed forces, as ministers scramble to find money to strengthen the military.
Why do we have a Parliament? What’s its purpose?
June 10, 2026
Lord Redwood, apologies for banging on on your website. I need to set an example too of not being fundamentalist (against those as I see as fundamentalist – such as Bannon or the socialists and WOKE brigade). But I am genuinely feel really OPTIMISTIC about our great nation’s future whilst at same time, I see us as having a battle on our hands as well. Best. And thank you, sir.
June 10, 2026
The policy is not tax and spend but spend and tax. High, wasteful spending is deliberately organised to justify high taxation for socialism depends upon making and keeping people poor. Just as there would be no climate crisis if the “solution”, Net Zero, wasn’t sabotaging our energy and thus causing de-industrialisation and national insecurity. Professor Sir Dieter Helm, Professor of Economic Policy at the University of Oxford, who wrote in 2017 the government’s “Cost of Energy Review”, ends his 24/02/2026 podcast #83 entitled “The Energy Security Gap” with: “The reason why there are so many opportunities to improve our energy security is because it is very hard to conceive of any energy policy which could be making us LESS energy secure and LESS helpful as a policy towards the defence of the realm, the primary requirement of any government before anything else is considered.”
https://dieterhelm.co.uk/publications/podcast-83-the-energy-security-gap/
June 10, 2026
the government announcing subsidies to companies bringing in foreign workers is treason