“A low tax Conservative” Chancellor?

The Chancellor tells us he believes in low taxes. In that case he has work to do. Let him prove his point in this coming budget.

First, abolish the tax on jobs he proposes for April with his National Insurance surcharge. The advisers who told him he needed to raise an extra Ā£12bn next year, have now told him he has already raised an extra Ā£46bn in tax in the first half of this year thanks to tax cuts and recovery.Ā  Their revenue forecast was that much out between March and September! Let’s stick with a winning formula of lower tax rates and more revenue.

Second, end the attack on the self employed by cancellingĀ  the changes to IR 35. We need all the enterprising and self employed people we can get to power recovery and change the economy.

Third, remove VAT from green products. The government claims to be the greenest ever, so why charge VAT on boiler controls, on insulation, draught proofing and various other green energy products?

Fourth remove VAT fromĀ  domestic fuel to offset some of the large rises in price brought on by the gas shortage. The gas price rise will act as a tax on consumption, cutting growth.

Fifth end the threat of higher corporation tax rates

Sixth, consult on setting the new world Minimum Corporation Tax rate to offer some tax competition to Ireland.

If he did these things he would indeed be a lower tax Conservative., He would also collect more revenue and have a lower deficit because the economy would grow more.

184 Comments

  1. David Peddy
    October 25, 2021

    Totally agree with everything here

    1. Sharon
      October 25, 2021

      +10

    2. Lifelogic
      October 25, 2021

      Indeed, but also add abolition of ULEZ amd congestion charge, reduce stamp duty rates to the old 1% or 0% to improve job mobility, stop charging landlord taxes on profits they have not even made it is pushing up rents and reducing rental supply, kill the freeze on tax allowances, increase the pension cap to at least the Ā£2 million that MPs and the state sector get with their Arrangements DB rather than just half that. Also restore indexation on CGT another tax on profit not actually made.

      Above all stop pissing money down the drain. You can only cut taxes if you stop the vast waste. One way to save money is to encourage far more private medical care and education and have fair competition and top up vouchers or tax breaks.

      1. Hope
        October 25, 2021

        LL,
        ULEZ is another example of taxing the poor beyond what they can afford while adding to inflation! Of course the Tories could stop this if they wished.

        1. glen cullen
          October 25, 2021

          Its no longer in the Tory mindset to reduce any tax

    3. Hope
      October 25, 2021

      What on earth are you talking about?

      Sunak just put up NIC! He put up corporation tax last year. You do not have to wait. Last March 2020 budget was high tax and spend 11 days before Johnson locked down the country, with the exception of himself and chums. Taxation at 70 year high!

      Oh wait, Cameron said he was a low tax Tory despite hiking all taxes which JR conceded was not the 80% cuts versus 20% tax rises! Ten years ago!

      The facts and record show fake Tories or be high tax, big state, anti business, pro immigration, pro welfare state with an immoral ā€˜nudge unitā€™ to frighten the people they are meant to serve! Where is JRs blog on this point or is his blog today part of the propaganda?

    4. formula57
      October 25, 2021

      +1

      And so we see what we could have from the Conservatives and know things do not have to be the way Mr. Sunak proposes.

  2. Everhopeful
    October 25, 2021

    Why do we still have VAT?

    1. Lifelogic
      October 25, 2021

      Indeed an absurdly inefficient and very complex EU inspired tax.

      I see the moronic Green Party want to steal money off Landlords and give it to tenants so they can buy more gas, coal, oil heating! It works like this, they mug the average landlord for circa Ā£2000 waste about half in collection cost and admin then give Ā£320 to the tenants. Result would be fewer landlords letting, less rental choice for tenants and this rather higher rents for the remaining tenants.

      Economic insanity but then not quite as daft Sunakā€™s ā€œeat out to help outā€ as that has the additional rule you have to eat to get 1/2 the money back or indeed the heat pump insanity a Ā£5k grant as that obliges you to spend Ā£15k to 70k+ on a worthless heat pump to get your Ā£5k contribution. You then get huge disruption to house and garden tepid rads, tepid baths, higher bills, slower heating up and higher maintenance costs for your troubles!

      1. Lifelogic
        October 25, 2021

        Brown, Darling, Osborne, Hammond and now Sunak were and are tax borrow and piss down the drain chancellors. Taxes are now at a point where they raise less tax than they would if they were much lower. These rates are also strangling the recovery, killing jobs and investments. Government should be spending 20% of a much larger GDP not nearly 50% of a smaller one. So much waste that could easily be culled.

        1. Hope
          October 25, 2021

          LL, universal credit/welfare acts against working more than 16 hours a week for a large proportion of female claimants.

          Cameron was going to stop EU children who never set foot here from getting child benefit- it never happened. Quietly dropped like charging world health service. Tens of millions of our taxes still being shipped abroad to EU countries each year while we are forced to pay more taxes through NIC for adult social care. In addition to social adult care charge on community charge plus 5% on community charge and being forced to sell your home! Only four taxes for the same issue! Those low tax Tories eh!

          1. Lifelogic
            October 26, 2021

            +1

      2. Everhopeful
        October 25, 2021

        ++++
        Absolutely!

      3. Everhopeful
        October 25, 2021

        ++++Agree!

    2. Nota#
      October 25, 2021

      @Everhopeful – VAT is a EU tax, it needs to stay in place to make the dishonest move of not actually leaving EU Control and then help ease the UK back into full foreign unelected control. Appeasement comes to mind

      1. glen cullen
        October 25, 2021

        Spot On

      2. Everhopeful
        October 25, 2021

        +1
        Yes.. leaving the door wide open for re entry?

      3. Peter Parsons
        October 25, 2021

        VAT in the UK replaced Purchase Tax which was introduced in 1940 (so before the EU or its predecessors were even thought of).

        VAT on domestic fuel was introduced by the Conservatives in March 1993 (John Redwood was Minister of State for Local Government at the time) after their 1992 eleection manifesto promised no extension to the scope of VAT (and that was also after agreeing to a state of affairs whereby once VAT was levied, it could not be subsequently rescinded, a decision the Conservatives could have vetoed but chose not to). It was introduced at 8% (compared to the current level of 5% which came in after Blair was elected PM in 1997). It was due to be increased by the Conservatives to 17.5% in 1995, but they lost the vote in Parliament on that.

        Reply I opposed it within government and lost the argument.

        1. alan jutson
          October 25, 2021

          Are you really sure about your dates Peter.

          I thought purchase Tax was introduced at 33% on luxury goods in 1940.

          I also thought VAT was Introduced on 3rd April 1973 at 8% to replace Purchase Tax.

          1. Peter Parsons
            October 26, 2021

            That’s exactly what I said. Purchase Tax was introduced in 1940 and VAT simply replaced it. VAT wasn’t a new tax, it was a replacement of an existing tax.

  3. Everhopeful
    October 25, 2021

    There should be a 3 year tax holiday during which time Johnson and his cabinet fund absolutely everything personally. They can raise the money by busking or selling sandwiches or just by turning out their pockets for loose changeā€¦.Thatā€™d cover it.
    We could look upon this as a sort of apology for everything they have knowingly put us through.
    Iā€™d quite like my feet washed too!

    1. Micky Taking
      October 25, 2021

      Johnson could sit at the end of Downing St. with a placard and begging bowl ‘ Expensive wife and a number of children to support’.

      1. Everhopeful
        October 25, 2021

        +1
        Oh yes!!
        Great idea.šŸ˜‚

  4. Al
    October 25, 2021

    “Second, end the attack on the self employed by cancelling the changes to IR 35. ”
    I disagree. Cancel IR35 entirely.
    If you search duckduckgo for IR35 at the moment, word for word the definition on the right panel reads “IR35 is the main reason the UK is short of lorry drivers”. Left and right newsources, (from the Express to the Yorkshire Post) are using words like “disaster”, “mistake” and “unfair”.

    Requiring that agency nurses, HGV drivers, contractors, supply teachers etc. who only work for one client on routine functions have to pay themselves at least the minimum hourly wage from their contracting source would do a great deal to prevent the dividend tax avoidance that was going on. If you check how much has been spent on enforcement and how many people (and skills) have left the industry or country compared to how much has been collected, it has been a loss.

    1. Lifelogic
      October 25, 2021

      Indeed. Idiotic to have introduced this and not abolished it.

    2. acorn
      October 25, 2021

      Why should a genuine employee have to pay additional tax to compensate the government for ‘disguised’ employee tax dodgers? Also using a corporate structure to save tax by splitting ownership of the company with the wife and kids in order to place income in lower tax bands. All employees would like some of that please!

      1. Mark B
        October 25, 2021

        IR35 is a Jack hammer used to crush a peanut. It is legislation that is disproportional. And BTW. Those in the Palace of Westminster enjoy tax free perks denied to the rest of us. When is that going to end ?

        1. alan jutson
          October 25, 2021

          Mark B

          Agree, the old 714 Certification seemed to work fine when I was using it for decades when in the Construction industry.

          Simple and effective to register, and simple and effective to operate, as you only paid others gross who were also registered and known by HMRC, proven by their own accredited Certification.

      2. SM
        October 25, 2021

        Why do you so speedily assume the worst of the self-employed? What is the qualifier for being a ‘genuine’ employee?

        1. acorn
          October 25, 2021

          PAYE

          1. Al
            October 26, 2021

            “PAYE” – acorn

            So if a charity hires a plumber for two weeks to fix their sinks the charity should pay them PAYE? (Including all associated costs to the charity: pension, HR, onboarding, payroll, P45 at the end, etc.)
            If not, then when they hire a lecturer for two weeks to train their staff, should the lecturer be PAYE?
            (Including all associated costs to the charity: pension, HR, onboarding, payroll, P45 at the end, etc.)
            If not, then why when they hire a coder for two weeks to fix their website, should the coder be PAYE?

            PAYE requires huge overheads and really can’t handle freelancers or contractors who work for three or four clients at once.

      3. JPM
        October 25, 2021

        And contractors would like sick pay, holiday pay, benefits in kind, pensions and bonuses…The

        Government is doing a fine job of persuading you that the problem is other people tax-dodging, whilst at the same time ignoring rampant evasion and tax manipulation by multinationals.

      4. Peter2
        October 25, 2021

        Try going self employed then acorn.
        See what its like for those who are not employed with contracts giving relative security, employment rights, set salaries, pensions, sick pay, maternity pay, paternity pay and all the other comforts you take for granted.

        1. SM
          October 25, 2021

          +1

      5. Al
        October 25, 2021

        Standard employees do not pay additional tax to cover this. The contractors cover their own sick leave, maternity/paternity pay, pensions, gaps between employment, and in many cases provide their own equipment and pay for their own training. These are not costs that an employee is expected to cover. More importantly they cover flexible working that employees do not – e.g. covering leave of fulltime employees, e.g. agency nurses and supply teachers, or being able to fill gaps in the market for one or two months like the current HGV situation.

        According the Business papers the freelance market adds Ā£21Bn to the economy. 35% of freelancers have left since April, into retirement, abroad etc, resulting in an estimated loss of Ā£7Billion to the economy. An FOI request revealed that tax years 2002/03 to 2007/08, IR35 directly raised just Ā£9.2 million (around only Ā£1.5 million per tax year). A tax law that costs the government money is pointless.

        1. acorn
          October 25, 2021

          The productivity of the self employed is abysmal. They spend hours quoting for jobs they will never get and end up with few “billable hours”.

          1. Peter2
            October 25, 2021

            Give us data and proof for your ridiculous claim acorn.

        2. a-tracy
          October 25, 2021

          JPM, contractors should put a % on their charges for sick pay in the same way that an employer has to for all their employees and themselves, the Birmingham Chambers of Commerce suggested that each employee requires 500 pounds per year to cover their potential sick leave and sick holiday pay, so that is Ā£10 Per Week a contractor needs to add to their rates. The same calculation should be made for holiday pay and the employer has to put this on to their quote.

          If you are only getting work because you are undercutting rates then the consequences are that you donā€™t have the savings security but that is not for the rest of the paye workforce that do have that % calculation made within their gross pay package to account for. Otherwise perhaps all paye workers should be able to be self-assessed and not paye the same terms for all with a gross salary increase and the removal of paye and no employers NI, ssp, holiday pay.

          You can sign up for NEST the same as any occupational worker who has to put up 5% for themselves and their employer compulsorily has to contribute 3% well you are your own employer.

          1. Al
            October 26, 2021

            “contractors should put a % on their charges for sick pay in the same way that an employer has to for all their employees and themselves, ”

            Yes, that is exactly what contractors do. It is included in their rate. This is why they are paid more per hour because they are covering that cost, (as well as covering leave, SERPS, paying their own NI and corporate NI for their own company etc.). Employees receive their pay with those already deducted or covered by the employer.

      6. acorn
        October 25, 2021

        It is simple. The fundamental is the government issues its own sovereign monopoly fiat currency; but, it has to create a reason for its non-government sector to adopt it; and, create in that sector, a need to get some of it, in order to pay legally imposed taxation. Hence, taxation drives the domestic value of the governments monopoly sovereign fiat currency.

        In order for the government to get its fiat currency circulating in the economy and increasing GDP, it has to encourage the non-government sector to spend it, that will its so called budget deficit by taxing that consumption spending.

        The trouble is you lot out there are not spending the government fiat money; you insist on hoarding it. Hence, the governments budget deficit keeps increasing. It keeps spending but you don’t.

        Frankly, the government’s cumulative budget deficit is all your fault. If you stopped hoarding the government’s money and spent it, so the government could tax it and get its money back and reduce its deficit, no problem. To be honest, the government could run a deficit as large as the economy requires. The government has a credit card with an unlimited spending limit; but that is another story.

        1. Mark B
          October 26, 2021

          Well if the government would stop printing it it would not have to tax it in the first place. And as for us getting government money, I can tall you, I have not received a penny.

          If governments want people to spend, stop taxing them on things that they might want them to buy (eg a diesel or petrol car) and not things that they do not want (eg an electric car). You could say that government is doing that because ‘it wants you to’ but that there is the problem. It is government want me to do something which I do not want to do which is causing the problem.

        2. a-tracy
          October 26, 2021

          acorn, “The trouble is you lot out there are not spending the government fiat money”.

          Are you blowing your money? If Yes, Do you have a guaranteed final salary pension? I firmly believe that is the difference between savers and spenders. Savers have to put up because the private pension scheme is repeatedly mauled by chancellors who have final salary pensions! Pension savings you thought you’d made to give you a sufficient retirement income is poor. People with tiny State pensions have to hoard their savings to cover unexpected and high costs like dental care, new tyres, a replacement washing machine and other items.

    3. boffin
      October 25, 2021

      YES – scrap IR35 entirely, it is actually a set of toxic HMRC ā€˜guidelinesā€™ so vague that two perfectly capable tax officers in the same office might reach diametrically opposite conclusions on the tax status of an individual case. This uncertainty makes it impossible for small contracting firms to tender competitively against larger rivals.

      Similar efforts by the leftist fifth column within Whitehall to support union power by extinguishing all ā€˜freelanceā€™ support for large firms have been ongoing for many years. Well before their stealth ā€˜Clause 62′ was handbagged just in time by the PM in the 80s, the Finance (No. 2) Bill of 1975 proposed that the small businesses offering freelance services would be ā€œdeemed to be closedā€.

      (That led to arguably the greatest ā€˜brain drainā€™ in UK history … but the economic refugees so propelled did quite well in the end, ā€˜cos the Ā£ then collapsed).

    4. glen cullen
      October 25, 2021

      Correct (the IR35 was invent by someone who’d never been self-employed)

      1. Mark B
        October 26, 2021

        glen

        Very true that ! The thing HMRC keep banging on about is the loss in tax revenue. This is not so. Contractors still need to buy food, clothing, cars and other things. All taxable. This is about control.

  5. Sea_Warrior
    October 25, 2021

    Limiting, rather than removing, domestic fuel VAT is certainly warranted. Otherwise the givernment will be guilty of making ‘windfall profits’ from others’ misery. I note, however, that there are some signs of normality returning. My dual-fuel DD was Ā£57/month in the summer. It’s now Ā£72, with the two-year fix moving up strongly to Ā£130!!! But a three-year fix is now being offered at Ā£90! So, I’ll be staying ‘variable’. What do I expect from government? I expect it to stop taking policy hints from schoolgirls and to open up domestic supplies, in our waters and underground.
    P.S. I am disappointed to see that another Ā£6 bn is to be thrown into a bottomless hole in the ground. What kind of madness is this? Sparta? No, the wealth-sapping NHS.

    1. graham1946
      October 25, 2021

      Yep. Why take a fix even at a lower rate now, which means paying extra each month, when it is clear the supply companies can just go bust and you end up on standard tariff anyway, and any extra you have paid on the fix will be lost.

  6. DOM
    October 25, 2021

    This article does not call for reform of the unionised public sector or calls for slashing spending to curb systemic waste. Labour, the left and the unions are emboldened and strengthened by an over-funded public sector. A captured Tory party is abusing the private taxpayer to finance their refusal to impose reform on a system that is now a source of immense political power, privilege and arrogance

    A captured Tory party by the left will bankrupt the UK

    1. JoolsB
      October 25, 2021

      +1

    2. Nota#
      October 25, 2021

      @DOM +1 Then again the point of this new Socialism is that the more people that are beholden to the State the more the State gets to control them. Boris just cant have an enterprising UK as that will stop him rejoining the EU

      1. Everhopeful
        October 25, 2021

        +1
        Youā€™re right.

  7. Newmania
    October 25, 2021

    John Redwood claims the vast tax cuts he proposes would create more income by encouraging growth .This is clearly not true at all times or we would not be taxed at all. If it is not true he is simply proposing more borrowing which is in line with his relentless calls for…um…. more borrowing . I would like to see how he justifies this punt, which has considerable risks.
    On the list I would pick out corporation tax as the worst offender . If we can rid the economy of one drag let it be that one

    1. Richard1
      October 25, 2021

      No. You havenā€™t understood the Laffer curve effect, under which revenues can often be maximised by decreasing rates, due to behavioural effects and incentives. Sir John gave some examples yesterday of how lower were rates have led to increased receipts over the last year. There are many others.

      1. Newmania
        October 25, 2021

        The thing about the Laffer curve is that its a curve .. (Yes I have heard it mentioned once or twice )

      2. Peter Parsons
        October 25, 2021

        You haven’t understood the impact of things like time limiting a change. Stamp duty revenues are up because people changed when they did a transaction to take advantage of a temporary reduction in rates (the same thing happened when the change in top rate tax was announced – people simply deferred income into the next tax year). The incentive was to move now, not in two years time, not to move house more often, so there will then be a “hangover” now rates have gone back up which people will claim is “the Laffer curve” but is in reality simply the consequence of changing the timing of many transactions.

        The problem with the Laffer curve (apart from it being a thought experiement on a restaurant napkin) is that it is just a concept. If it exists at all, nobody knows where the peak is. As the people of Kansas found out in the Kansas experiment, Laffer’s ideas can be disastrous when put into practise (unless you’re Laffer, who did very nicely in consultancy fees out of the whole mess).

        Reply Every time a Conservative government has cut Income tax rates it has raised more revenue

        1. Richard1
          October 25, 2021

          Likewise CGT. Or look at Irelandā€™s experience with low corporation tax. Or the US tax reforms under JFK then Reagan then Trump. There are loads of examples. But leftists re always in denial. They canā€™t take it.

          1. Peter Parsons
            October 26, 2021

            Again, a lack of understanding of what’s actually going on.

            The ability of multinationals to shift their tax burden between jurisdictions isn’t evidence for the Laffer curve, it’s evidence of the ability of accountants and lawyers to maximise things to the benefit of their employer (the job they are paid for – I’m not criticising them, but I will criticise the policians who allow organisations to extract profits from a country without paying a fair contribution while doing so).

            Every time profits get shifted from where they are actually made to a lower tax location like Ireland, yes, the tax take in Ireland goes up, but it has been reduced in all the other locations that the profits were shifted from, and by more than Ireland gains, so the overall tax paid by an organisation goes down.

            What you are advocating is no more than a race to the bottom.

          2. Peter2
            October 26, 2021

            There are laws against shifting profits around.
            The single market actually allows companies to decide on a single HQ for accounting purposes.
            Some understandably choose a low corporate tax country like Southern Ireland or Luxembourg.
            But that is only the corporation tax.
            These huge companies contribute billions to the national governments they operate in via other taxes and emply tens of thousands of people.

    2. graham1946
      October 25, 2021

      I’ve asked this previously and he told me that with a lower tax rate the tax fiddlers will fiddle no more and suddenly all the off-shorers will return their money to the UK. Seems like a long shot.

    3. Lifelogic
      October 25, 2021

      Well clearly the state can do a few things better than businesses, charities and individuals but 20% of GDP (what would be a far larger GDP) is plenty for this.

      The combination of hugely excessive taxes, over complex taxes, over regulation of almost everything, generally poor, inefficient and second rate public services (NHS, schools, universities, energy, housing, the legal system, defence… and the expensive intermittent Net Zero insanity on top is a disaster for the economy and productivity.

      Surely even Sunak can grasp this but it seems not. We end up with vast number doing essentially unproductive and parasitic jobs in the state sector and in compliance.

      Sunak thinks productivity will improve though “better training”. But about 75% of university degree are almost worthless and give people Ā£50K of debt that most will never repay.

      Much of the better training will be in parasitic compliance jobs that would not even be needed with a bonfire of red tape and simpler more sensible tax laws – HR compliance, tax planning, green crap, extra accounting, pension advisors…

      In short Sunak (PPE yet again) is yet another tax borrow and piss down the drain fool. His eat out to help out, his taxing of landlords on profits not even made, his 90% cut in Entrepreneurs tax relief, no indexation of CGT, increasing corp. tax to 25%, freezing all the allowances, absurdly high stamp duty, increases in NI X2, the Ā£5K for heat pumps lunacy are all clear proof of his total unsuitability for the job.

      On Sunday he defended increasing NI rather than income tax as it hit business with employers NI and not just employees NI. What a damn fools he is? They are both payroll taxes just means lower wage increases for the employees and employers have to pay the NI in order to pay the wages! What matters is if you take Ā£100 from the business how much ends up with the employee. Spiting the tax into NI, employers NI, and income tax is really sophistry or PR fraud to disguise the circa 40% to 60% total payroll taxation. Then many have student loan repayments of 9% and pension deductions on top of this!

      1. a-tracy
        October 25, 2021

        Lifelogic, he has solved the ā€˜just means lower wage increasesā€™ by pushing up employerā€™s wage costs when pay differentials are demanded based on the NLW from April 2022 6.2% increases as well as the 1.25% employerā€™s NI, in addition to the fiscal drag of no allowances being increased.

        The fact a Conservative chancellor wants to ā€˜hitā€™ businesses with employees is just plain wrong. Surely it is to the tax offices savings to have all that lovely paye taken in monthly for free. They do nothing to collect it, charge the businesses with the responsibility and then want to punish them further for having the audacity to hire people. So the sitting duck paye workers get clobbered.

      2. a-tracy
        October 26, 2021

        How many nurses and doctors are we training each year in the UK?
        Is there a cap?
        Can’t we ask people to come out of retirement just a day or two each week to teach to expand this training and process a lot more candidates? Train more men in the role of the medic (nurse practitioner) as well as developing more nurses into a mid-point between fully-fledged GP and open the market up, pay them per procedure, give them specialist training in small operations so they can work in several practices in an area.

        Completely reduce the requirement for so much expensive bank nursing over the next five years.

  8. Ian Wragg
    October 25, 2021

    None of these things will be done. His boss is like a kid in a sweet shop.
    Cancel HS2 and disregard the mantra of already sunk costs.
    I hear he’s committing money to stop illegal immigration. We dontneed money we need willpower.

    1. Original Richard
      October 25, 2021

      Ian Wragg :

      I agree completely.

      Mr. Johnson, not unlike most of his predecessors, is more determined to leave a legacy than do what is necessary to achieve a prosperous, safe and harmonious nation.

      His overarching desire is to push ahead with grand projects of bridges, airports and tunnels to which he can put his name.

      Such as HS2 which is unnecessary, un-green, uneconomic and certainly not levelling up as it will consume money for other more needed rail improvements and be so expensive that only elites and those travelling at the taxpayersā€™ expense will be using it.

      His ultimate project is to make the UK the World leader of the charge to net zero ā€“ for CO2 emissions, not population growth ā€“ which will bankrupt the country since the technology to do it reliably and economically does not yet exist.

      With these legacy projects in his mind there is simply no way that we will see a reduction in taxes and to remain popular no cuts in spending either no matter how wasteful and inefficient is the public sector.

    2. Lifelogic
      October 25, 2021

      Exactly

    3. glen cullen
      October 25, 2021

      What a folly, rather than stopping illegal channel crossing this government is buying a bigger fleet of new ferry taxiā€™s (probably made in Korea like our royal navy fleet ancillary)
      The money Boris is committing is to be spent on new boats, pizza and hotels

      1. Lifelogic
        October 25, 2021

        +1

  9. Mark B
    October 25, 2021

    Good morning.

    The trouble is, it is like listening to a small child saying they believe in Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy. You just know that they do not exist but, you just have to play along with the charade.

    I think Sir John that the problem is next door at Number 10. The PM has finally got his hands on the nations cheque book. He knows that printing money is inadvisable. He knows that putting up interest rate is going to flatten the ponzi scheme that the property market has become. The government has used what is a private transaction to dip its greedy hands into our pockets. For example :

    From 1984 – 1991 there were only two bands and a house over Ā£30K (the upper limit) attracted a Stamp Duty of 1%. By 2021 this had increased to 5 bands and an upper limit of 12% for properties over Ā£1.5m.

    This is typical government at work – Theft !

    1. Nota#
      October 25, 2021

      @Mark B +1 well said, but beyond comprehension for this Government.

    2. Lifelogic
      October 25, 2021

      The top rate is an absurd 15% with the 3% surcharge on top often due. Kills much job mobility. Employers also used to be allowed to pay relocation costs (like agents fees, legal costs, stamp duty) but these are now also largely taxable “benefits”.

      1. Mark B
        October 25, 2021

        LL

        My biggest gripe, and there are many on this one issue alone, is what does the government do to justify such levies ???? It does nothing. At least with road tax and the telly tax you can say you are getting something, even if it not what you want and / or like to pay.

        STAMP DUTY is naked THEFT !!!!

        1. Micky Taking
          October 25, 2021

          and the ability to relocate benefits the economy.

        2. Lifelogic
          October 26, 2021

          as is IHT

    3. No Longer Anonymous
      October 25, 2021

      The latest is E10 petrol. Effectively like a pub landlord watering down his beer.

      Boris my jest about people taking away our boilers at carrot point but we know how he’s going to force us to take on useless heat pumps.

      The glaciers receded from Britain 12,000 years ago with not a combi in sight.

      1. Mark B
        October 25, 2021

        The glaciers receded from Britain 12,000 years ago . . .

        Yes ! So what made that REAL piece of Climate Change happen ?

        A question no one in the MSM ever thinks to ask. I wonder why šŸ˜‰

      2. Lifelogic
        October 25, 2021

        Exactly a huge back door tax increase as you need more petrol to go the same distance (will this be included in the inflation figures?). Commuting costs to and from work are not even tax deductible and your marginal tax rates can now be 60%. Then from the 40% you have to pay 9% student loans, commuting costs, lunches and perhaps child care. So why bother many are concluding.

      3. glen cullen
        October 25, 2021

        I’ve also heard today that the cost of E10 is a lot higher than producing petrol – just another reason for the fuel pump price rise…..thanks Boris

  10. SM
    October 25, 2021

    I have been reading (non-fiction) history all my adult life. One of the lessons I have learned is that when government of any ilk insist on piling tax upon tax upon tax, and also making taxation systems ever-more complex, they simply build up trouble for themselves.

    Perhaps Parties should ensure that all aspiring politicians (and maybe the established ones too) are obliged to attend an analytical political history course?

    1. Nota#
      October 25, 2021

      @SM +1 That’s the problem with subsidies and handouts, one feeds the other and increases distortion so more must follow. Its called exporting wealth creation and the expense of the Country

      1. alan jutson
        October 25, 2021

        +1

      2. Mark B
        October 25, 2021

        +1

    2. Lifelogic
      October 25, 2021

      Indeed if only they knew a more history, some maths, basic physics and understood some energy realities. Above all if they understood how much less efficient government spending is relative to people spending their own money and some real economics. See Milton Friedman on the four types of money/spending.

    3. Mark B
      October 25, 2021

      The solution is to let the people decide on the budget. After all, they’re the ones that will be paying it. Well the taxpaying ones at least.

  11. Oldtimer
    October 25, 2021

    These are ideas Sunak should adopt and implement. Talk is cheap. We hear too much talk about the Conservatives being the party of low taxes. Johnson in particular is addicted to dog whistle statements like this while he piles more taxes on. Actions speak louder than words.

    1. Nota#
      October 25, 2021

      @Oldtimer +1

    2. Lifelogic
      October 25, 2021

      The partly of promising low taxes before election then ratting on them the day after that is. We still do not have the Ā£1 million each IHT threshold that Osborne promised many moons ago. In the UK is it more like Ā£7 million! With tax at far less then 40% too. Most sensible countries have no IHT or death taxes.

      1. Lifelogic
        October 25, 2021

        In the US is it more like Ā£7 million I meant!

    3. Mark B
      October 25, 2021

      Nobody is holding this government to account. Not the opposition, who are happy for the Tories to damage their own electoral base, something our kind host seems to be aware of. And the MSM, who just hate the Tories and know that it helps Labour.

    4. John Hatfield
      October 25, 2021

      There are some who say that Johnson is Blair’s puppet.

      1. glen cullen
        October 25, 2021

        You mean Blairā€™s been in power all this time ā€“ now it all makes sense

  12. Bryan Harris
    October 25, 2021

    Excellent suggestions – Somebody should pin this list up in front of the chancellor’s desk to remind him what it means to be a tax cutter.

    With 2 paths possible to take, it seems the government is intent on taking the high road – the one that will cause us the greatest pain, ensure the economic recovery is stifled, delayed and then very difficult to achieve.

    What is wrong with the treasury that they are being deliberately obtuse — Time a spotlight was shone on their inner workings!

  13. Sakara Gold
    October 25, 2021

    I’m all for less tax. We are one of the most heavily taxed nations on earth and Sir John’s proposals are, as usual, eminently sensible.

    Sunak has scope to cancel the 5% VAT on domestic fuel and VAT on green products. At current wholesale electricity prices the UK windfarm industry is paying ~Ā£15m a day to the exchequer in CfD contracts.

    The fact that wholesale electricity prices are today at ~Ā£150/MWh means that every single CfD, from every single round agreed with the government, is now cash positive to the Exchequer. Hopefully, energy prices will quickly fall to norms of around Ā£50/MWh, but that is still Ā£10, or 25% above the 2019 CfD agreed for Dogger (including its construction costs) and is still Ā£6/MWh less than CCGT plants already built.

    Sunak is a green skeptic – like many who post here – and apparently, he plans to transfer these large windfall sums to the fossil fuel lobby in further subsidies for the “blue hydrogen” and “CO2 carbon capture” scams. I would like to see some funding for utility scale energy storage projects instead.

    1. Original Richard
      October 25, 2021

      Sakara Gold : “I would like to see some funding for utility scale energy storage projects instead.”

      I am also keen for renewable energy to provide our power as it means that we can become energy independent. But the transfer from fossil fuels needs to be done economically and without blackouts or rationing.

      There is as yet no true costings for renewable electricity as the storage issue has not yet been solved and hence its cost is still unknown.

      This means in effect that since fossil fuels are providing the backup they are in fact subsidising renewables.

      We will know the true cost of renewables when the Government insists upon negotiating a contract with a wind farm who guarantees not only a fixed price for the electricity but also a minimum power output even when the wind is not blowing for a long period of time.

  14. JoolsB
    October 25, 2021

    As usual John you are absolutely spot on. If only you were Chancellor. As for Sunak, there is nothing low tax or Conservative about him, or Johnson, or most of your party for that matter.

    1. SM
      October 25, 2021

      +1

    2. Nottingham Lad Himself
      October 26, 2021

      I think that you need to study carefully some of the more serious work that has been done on the Laffer curve and on similar postulates.

  15. John Miller
    October 25, 2021

    Excellent start, Sir John.

  16. Sir Joe Soap
    October 25, 2021

    So can we say that if none of these comes to pass, there is no reason to vote Conservative?

  17. Donna
    October 25, 2021

    I suspect Sunak’s daily prayer is “Please Lord, make me a Low Tax Conservative Chancellor …….. but not yet.”
    Watch what they do and ignore what they say.

    Can you imagine the howls of fury and accusations by the BBC, NHS, Labour and every other left-wing Quango that the Government is starving the NHS of funds and killing Granny in her Care Home if Sunak dared reverse the proposed rise in NI?

    And that’s why it won’t happen.

    There is nothing Low Tax (or Conservative) about this Government.

  18. ChrisS
    October 25, 2021

    I suppose Ageism would prevent our host becoming Chancellor, or at least Chief Secretary, but that is what is needed. Everything in today’s piece is so blindingly, obviously right that is should be enacted immediately.
    If it is true that receipts are Ā£46bn ahead of forecasts, and that will be repeated in the second half of the financial year, there really is no need to introduce a Ā£12bn increase in NI contributions. Why are they going ahead with it ?
    What are they going to waste the extra money on ? The Northern section of HS2 ?

  19. George Brooks.
    October 25, 2021

    What a menu Sir John!!!!!!!!!

    I just hope we get something approaching 30% of it.

    1. glen cullen
      October 25, 2021

      20 years ago you’d get 100% of SirJs points without question

  20. Christine
    October 25, 2021

    And 7 – reform the DWP benefit system where you now have 780 thousand EU citizens claiming working age benefits and you don’t even know if they are even still living in the UK. These people run rings around our lax benefit system with Boris bending over backwards to throw money at them using taxpayers contributions yet constantly putting up our retirement age.

  21. Nig l
    October 25, 2021

    No chance. Politicians only fool themselves.

  22. James1
    October 25, 2021

    Thatā€™s a promising list, and would be a good start. Will we see any of it implemented? Probably not. Unfortunately net zero common sense seems to rule the majority of our politicians at present.

  23. Narrow Shoulders
    October 25, 2021

    Much to agree with in your post Sir John.

    If I may add a couple:
    a commitment to reduce the tax code to below 500 pages within five years.

    Reinstate the (at least) annual rise in tax free thresholds

    And my personal favourite

    Give me back my child benefit which is really just the equivalent of tax free thresholds for children. Your governments have stolen over Ā£20,000 from me in the period where it paid child benefit to anyone who turned up (even with children abroad) or had had too many kids but because I was “rich” I was deemed undeserving. Where’s my Marcus Rashford?

    1. Micky Taking
      October 25, 2021

      he’s donating and providing free services to assist families where children are actually going hungry – did any of yours? No? – I thought not.

      1. Narrow Shoulders
        October 26, 2021

        No they didn’t @Michael due to the choices I made with spending my money and cooking my own good value, nutritious meals.

        However my taxed income paid for my children’s meals and upkeep without the benefit of tax free thresholds which previous generations of children were granted (Child Benefit replaced tax free thresholds). That is why Child benefit should be universal it is the tax free threshold for children.

        Ā£20K out of my pocket over the Conservative administration because I am “rich”. Yet with the number of children I have, working minimum wage on Universal credit I could TAKE HOME the same amount of money as I currently do. If Universal credit needs topping up with the measures you mention for “starving children”, how come I am “rich” enough to have my children’s tax free threshold allowance removed.

        Rich? I don’t think so and I have to compete for housing and food costs against those who are handed more money than I earn.

  24. agricola
    October 25, 2021

    My fear is that the thinking in the Treasury is that of a segment of the EU not that of a sovereign state. I await the Chancellors thinking. I will judge it by what I think it does to support an inventive, entrepreneurial, free thinking nation.

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      October 26, 2021

      You europhobes appear to live in a constant state of fear.

      What is the matter with you?

      1. Peter2
        October 26, 2021

        We fear you remainers will keep plotting to drag us back into the EU
        That’s what you want isn’t it NHL?

  25. Mike Wilson
    October 25, 2021

    I wonder if the whips ever tell Mr. Redwood to stop embarrassing Boris by deviating from the party line.

    1. Mark B
      October 25, 2021

      Mike

      If that party was New or Old Labour, the Greens or the Lib Dems, then they may have a point. But election manifesto promises have been made and broken, so the only embarrassment is, the TRUTH.

      1. glen cullen
        October 25, 2021

        Are you talking about Boris commitment not to raise Tax, or never to split NI from GB or the promised reduction in Immigration?

        1. Mark B
          October 26, 2021

          glen

          No. I am talking about not raising NIC. Although it could be just about anything.

  26. Stred
    October 25, 2021

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/net-zero-innovation-portfolio
    He could also tell Boris to stop wasting vast amounts of tax on projects cooked up by Bill Gates, bankers and the World Economic Forum, who were invited to No 10 recently. Every one of these projects is the most expensive way to reduce carbon dioxide for reasons of physics and chemistry. But very profitable for the subsidy milkers.

  27. Nota#
    October 25, 2021

    Sir John –“ā€œA low tax Conservativeā€ Chancellor?” is that this weeks wind-up of the Nation?

    First you need a Conservative Government, not a Socialist’s one. Even omitting the ‘low tax’ bit, no Conservative Government would intact the type of Socialists policies now being deployed.

    ‘If’ the rumor’s are correct, all taxpayer funded State controlled operations are to receive a pay rise. Not from the existing budgets, not from efficiencies – just simple because the Government can rob the taxpayer with impunity. Meanwhile over in the economy creating private sector they have to earn their money by increased performance, earn there pay increase by increased performance – to pay the 70 Year High tax take. Otherwise their businesses disappear.

    How does that all work, when the Government of the day is exporting UK jobs, just to say they have reduced territorial emissions. The fact the UK Government has as its core policy to increase World Emission is neither here or there.

    1. glen cullen
      October 25, 2021

      Correct ā€“ Boris budget is designed to pay-off the public sector and the green lobbyā€¦so theyā€™ll prise him and love him as the exalted one

  28. paul
    October 25, 2021

    The budget is to get companie’s ready for a fire sale with funny money from overseas, after cop 26 come the lockdown as quoted on this blog the other day, to close down as many small businesses as possible to give bigger businesses hear in the UK a bigger share of pie before the fire sale start, that what last week dinner was all about, selling the country out.

  29. X-Tory
    October 25, 2021

    I agree with all these suggestions (though I would go further on IR35 and abolish it entirely) and would also add another tax that has to be cut – or even abolished: carbon taxes. The cost of energy to manufacturers is making the UK grossly uncompetitive. Carbon taxes are one way to fix this (as well as by increasing supply as discussed in these pages previously).

    On a separate note, I am utterly appalled at the suggestion that the government is going to betray its promises and fail to meet the pledge to increase spending on R&D. The UK desperately needs to increase R&D spending, as the government has previously acknowledged, but now it seems it is going to abandon this vital policy. Thhis alone would be sufficient justification to refuse to support the budget when it comes to a vote. Will no Tory have the guts to stand up for what is right?

  30. alan jutson
    October 25, 2021

    Agree John, I will wait until Wednesday, but I think Boris and the Chancellor do not come good..

    So another Ā£6 billion for the NHS to clear the backlog, how will that happen without any extra beds, staff, and when it is being suggested sacking thousands more who do not get Jabbed.

    Time for Boris to apply to Join the Magic Circle, as that is full of illusionists.

    1. Mark B
      October 25, 2021

      The Nightingale Hospitals were built for COVID 19 patients so that they could be separated from other patients in order to prevent such a backlog. What a waste of time and money.

      1. alan jutson
        October 25, 2021

        Mark

        Agreed, the Nightingales were not used because we were told they had no staff, if that was the truth, what is the point in developing more Centres for anything, if the real problem is a staff shortage.
        Are any of these politicians making all these promises even capable of simple mathematics.

        If you have too few employees there is no point in planning expansion of anything, unless you can get either:
        More productivity from them.
        More employees quickly.
        Does this really have to be spelt out in capital letters before they understand.

      2. Micky Taking
        October 25, 2021

        and only a single digit percentage bed occupation.

  31. ukretired123
    October 25, 2021

    I trust Sir John’s judgement as it is based on sound economic principles and has a solid proven track record unlike many detractors.

  32. miami.mode
    October 25, 2021

    Homebuyers were denied tax relief on mortgage interest some years ago and yet companies are allowed to offset bank interest against some activities. This obviously gives an advantage to the slew of Private Equity buyouts which take place annually, some of which have turned out disastrously.

    The Chancellor could look at this.

  33. Nota#
    October 25, 2021

    Like most people I am amused by our MsM , to quote them on Boris today “there is no Plan B”. We would all chuckle if it wasn’t so serious, where is there any sort of plan?. He talks well of exporting UK jobs and Emissions while increase World pollution and UK taxpayers burden exponentially. He talks well of crippling the UK economy, and destroying the safety and security for those that live on these islands – But, that’s it, its talk. Get passed the Boris self inflicted increases in Costs for everyone but himself – nothing is delivered!

  34. GilesB
    October 25, 2021

    Last week for the first time I have heard a justification for keeping NI, as it is a National tax unlike income tax, so it makes sure that Scots contribute something to the National Health Service. I rise in income tax wouldnā€™t have the same effect.

    Though it does raise the bigger question of the need to review devolution and perhaps either take some powers back to Westminster, or allocate more burdens to Holyrood.

    1. Mark B
      October 25, 2021

      Getting shot of the other 3 in this so called Union would save the English Taxpayer a fortune !

  35. Atlas
    October 25, 2021

    Hmm, what I wish to hear is an end to the money-printing. A trip through history shows that money-printing always ends up in tears.

    As for the Green push – this is an equally disastrous course.

  36. Lisa
    October 25, 2021

    Conservative? This government is the most left wing government the country has ever seen. It has multiple agendas all at odds with the health and well being of the legitimate population. Ideology rules at all costs and since there is no real opposition party I hope that people will see just how utterly corrupt and barren politics is in this country.

    1. Jim Whitehead
      October 25, 2021

      Lisa, +1 !!!

  37. glen cullen
    October 25, 2021

    I agree with your tally of sensible recommendations, none of which will come to pass with this labour/green government, theyā€™ll concentrate on virtue signalling and grandiose projects ahead of cop26
    Like us SirJ youā€™re on a hiding to nothing

  38. alan jutson
    October 25, 2021

    I see the new ULEZ for outer London comes into force today.
    Indeed anything inside the North and South Circular roads, which now covers an area 18 times greater than the old Zone.
    They would like you to purchase a compliant vehicle, but if not, you can carry on polluting as normal for a cost of Ā£12.50 per visiting day.
    All of our family members moved out of the area years ago, so no need to travel into London at all other than perhaps theatre visits, when we will then go as an organised group by coach (probably an increased fare).
    Feel sorry for businesses located just inside the new Zone.
    Yet another complication.

    1. glen cullen
      October 25, 2021

      ”MPs who drive into London have reportedly avoided paying thousands of pounds worth of car taxes. This includes congestion charges and ultra low emission zone (ULEZ) fees.”
      https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/1510835/car-tax-ulez-congestion-charge-mp-expenses

    2. Micky Taking
      October 25, 2021

      That’s the Mayor of London for you….hundreds of buses and thousands of types of taxis polluting, but hit the poorer person who drives in a car certainly older than 10 years.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        October 26, 2021

        That mayor was Johnson.

        The ULEZ was his conception.

  39. No Longer Anonymous
    October 25, 2021

    There is a power of arrest for obstructing the highway. Police should use it immediately.

    1. X-Tory
      October 25, 2021

      It would help if ministers were not so bloody stupid. The ‘Insulate Britiain’ terrorists are evading contempt of Court proceedings simply because the government did not bother seking a general injunction against them blocking ANY public highway. The government only sought very limited injunctions, for a few specific roads, and the eco-loons are simply blocking other, non-specified roads. Well, gosh, who’d have guessed …?

      1. Fedupsoutherner
        October 25, 2021

        X TORY. Pathetic isn’t it?

      2. Nottingham Lad Himself
        October 26, 2021

        You don’t understand what an injunction is, do you?

  40. glen cullen
    October 25, 2021

    I never believed that Boris and the conservative party would stoop so low as to use children in propagandaā€¦what I witnessed this morning on TV with Boris presenting a climate change conference to young children made me sick
    Its beyond words

    1. DOM
      October 25, 2021

      I saw that. It was so repulsive that I had to change channels.

      I’m sorry, but for moral Tory MPs, and I believe there are many, to sit in silence while this offence of a leader behaves in such a nauseating and disturbing manner is nothing less than a betrayal of themselves

      1. Fedupsoutherner
        October 25, 2021

        Dom and glen. What the hell was he going on about when he talked about feeding humans to animals? Even the teacher with him looked confused. What a plonker.

  41. Diane
    October 25, 2021

    All too sensible Sir John, as usual.
    Nota: … “can’t have an enterprising UK as that will stop him rejoining the EU”. I recall some time back someone on here suggested that what we see is all by design, to that end. I have until recently generously dismissed that & other stuff too and ponder that perhaps we all expect too much too soon, but I do wonder. I think many have got to the point of dreading what is coming next, particularly from COP 26 and the 25.000.
    Not to mention the budget.
    GC above – Yes the thought that children actually are in many cases frightened & distressed by this so called climate emergency narrative sickens me.

  42. Barbara
    October 25, 2021

    O/t, but can anyone tell me why, on the DWP ‘find a job’ website, there are two adverts for Call Handlers, for which the summaries say: “We are looking to recruit candidates to join a brand new team to assist with the roll out of vaccine passportsā€?

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      October 25, 2021

      Because they want people to do that.

  43. Lynn Atkinson
    October 25, 2021

    And also:
    1. Remove VAT from commercial energy – those who are VAT registered claim it back anyway, so we are addressing the small enterprises who are charged 20% on energy.
    2. The minimum wage to rise again by 6%! Does this government want all small businesses to close? An electrician who owns a small enterprise told me he has the lowest take home pay in the company. My own tenants say they – the owners, have the lowest take home pay in their shops.

  44. mancunius
    October 25, 2021

    I entirely agree with all JR’s suggestions. The already leaked measures Sunak appears to be planning, such as increasing the ‘Living Wage’ so as to automatically provide any worker with a theoretical annual salary approaching Ā£30,000 per year, will stunt job growth and harm the private sector. His plan to increase the pay of all state employees is merely rewarding furloughed failure, and is another kick in the teeth for the net taxpayer who has to fund these vote-seeking money-wasters.

  45. paul
    October 25, 2021

    It’s being reported that the NHS is about sack 10% of it work force for not having the jab and get a extra 6 billion pounds.

    1. Mark B
      October 25, 2021

      If the 10% is admin staff it won’t be felt by the end user.

  46. mactheknife
    October 25, 2021

    Dear Sir John

    Does anyone in government ever listen to you ?

    I say this because you seem to make sense on all things governmental, but the government seem to do everything diametrically opposite to what you say.

    Yours Sincerely

    Confused of the former Red Wall.

    1. glen cullen
      October 25, 2021

      Its called political rule 180

  47. paul
    October 25, 2021

    The attack on small businesses goes on with min wage Ā£9.50 a hour.

    1. Mark B
      October 25, 2021

      This is an attack on jobs as business will employ fewer people and, will reduce the hours of those that already have a job.

      Governments have given themselves to the power to determine the value of labour. Soon they will give themselves the power to determine the cost of materials and the price at which the finished product is sold. All in this country and not in say, China šŸ˜‰

  48. glen cullen
    October 25, 2021

    Is it just a coincidence that the United Nations World Meteorological Organization
    is reporting today, 1 week ahead of United Nations IPCC Cop26, ā€˜ā€™that the amounts of CO2, methane and nitrous oxide rose by more than the annual average in the past 10 yearsā€™ā€™ source BBC (interesting that the BBC have dropped ‘United Nations’ from the titles)
    More taxes on the horizon

  49. glen cullen
    October 25, 2021

    Its got to be said; thanks to Boris

    ā€˜ā€˜tax is good, tax is right, tax worksā€™ā€™

  50. X-Tory
    October 25, 2021

    Off-topic, if you don’t mind, when on earth will the government stop wasting time and money collating and publishing statistics on the number of daily Covid infections? It doesn’t publish daily figures on how many people have a cold, or the flu, or break their leg, or even are hospitalised with something serious like cancer or a stroke, so why are they continuing to publish Covid data?

    Given that vaccinations have broken the link between infection and hospitalisation (and even more so, death), the number of daily infections is now utterly IRRELEVANT. All it does is give ammunition to the scaremongering Covid cowards and lockdown lunatics, and also to foreign countries who then use the figures to place restrictions on UK travellers. The government should announce that the Covid crisis is officially over, and use its time and money more fruitfully.

    1. glen cullen
      October 25, 2021

      Iā€™d still like to know the number of deaths directly and actually attributed to covid-19 and not just 28 days of have positive test

  51. formula57
    October 25, 2021

    Today’s diary and yesterday’s I have sent to my own M.P., expressing my wish that that he supports your views.

  52. X-Tory
    October 25, 2021

    Sir John, your Tweet sidebar is always interesting to read. Today you say: “Ā£6 bn more to get NHS waiting lists down on top of most of the Ā£12bn new tax next year. By how much will the lists fall for this cash?” That is SUCH a good point. The government constantly announces huge funding initiatives but NEVER states what the *precise* expected outcomes are. This does not only apply to the NHS, but is true in ALL areas of government spending. Unless you know what you are expecting to get for your money, how can you judge the success of the programme? No private company would just throw money around without a detailed expectation of the return it expects to achieve. It’s amazing that no MP ever presses the government on this point. I completely understand that Conservatives don’t want to embarrass their own ministers, but it shows the mental defficiency of the opposition that they do not do so!

  53. Javelin
    October 25, 2021

    Europe purchases 95% of its magnesium from China, and will run out of the industrial metal used to strengthen aluminum by the end of November that could threaten millions of jobs in sectors from automobiles to aerospace to defense and much more, according to Bloomberg.

    Once electric cars are efficient and China has lots of power stations to fuel them they WILL withhold exports of lithium for their own electric cars – simply because they do not have their own petrol supply.

    The Chinese have already withheld exports of magnesium this month. China is looking after its own interests. Green energy is a dangerous fantasy.

    1. SM
      October 25, 2021

      +1

  54. a-tracy
    October 25, 2021

    Could Northern Ireland’s corporation tax rate be 15% to compete directly with Southern Ireland but only for businesses with a base in N Ireland and employees in N Ireland?

  55. glen cullen
    October 25, 2021

    Is it again just another coincidence that on the every day SirJ discusses taxation, the Mayor of London introduces a new transport/road usage taxā€¦.and not a single MP has denounced him

    Its been my lifelong understanding that when your vote Tory you expect lower taxes

    1. miami.mode
      October 25, 2021

      glen, it was reported that the original idea of the ULEZ was proposed by Boris Johnson in 2013 when he was Mayor of London.

      1. glen cullen
        October 25, 2021

        doesn’t surprise me in the least

    2. Micky Taking
      October 25, 2021

      and less Public spending?

  56. a-tracy
    October 25, 2021

    John, what has your government done differently than what you would have expected Jeremy Corbyn to do?
    Cranking up the money printing machines
    National Insurance Taxes up for businesses and individuals, with reduced benefits for the working people paying-in,
    Corporation Taxes up,
    NLW up to Ā£9.50 then Ā£10.00 (by 2022),
    Extra bank holiday,
    Changes to IR35 to take more tax.

    I wonder what Corbyn would have done over N Ireland or would he have just signed straight up to the straight jacket of the EEA/customs union.

    Boris is correct the seats you won in 2019 were the people’s victories. Sadly he is letting the people down by delivering only a Brino (if you disagree tell us what he’s achieved to benefit only the UK); labour can’t complain because he is wearing their coat. He is using his spendthrift personal habits and putting them on the nation like a new Blair, people liked high spending Blair once.

    The people at the OBR and other national statistics need to sign off their predictions and take ownership of them and they should explain to us how their figures are so wrong and how they are going to ensure this isn’t repeated this year with the same people still in post and still in charge if my Managers gave me such wild predictions I would be considering their future role in my organisation unless they had some very good reasons, yet we’re not being told by them what went wrong.

  57. Fedupsoutherner
    October 25, 2021

    You do realise John that you are far too full of common sense to ever be offered a place in the cabinet don’t you? Sunak and Johnson will bring this country down between them.

  58. Micky Taking
    October 25, 2021

    Tory MPs have been defending themselves from accusations they have given the go-ahead to water companies to dump raw sewage in rivers. A Lords amendment to the Environment Bill that would have placed legal duties on the companies to reduce discharges was defeated by 265 votes to 202 last week.
    The MPs say safeguards already exist and new measures would cost billions.
    Critics say the UK is “lecturing” the world while its rivers are polluted.
    With just over a week to go until the UK hosts the COP26 climate summit, there is intense focus on ministers’ green credentials.
    Last Wednesday, 265 MPs voted with the government to reject an attempt by the House of Lords to toughen up the approach to the discharge of sewage, while 22 Conservative MPs rebelled and voted against the government.

    1. glen cullen
      October 25, 2021

      ā€¦.and donā€™t get me started on dredging rivers & canals and putting the sediment on the banks

    2. Micky Taking
      October 25, 2021

      How did you vote Sir John? – I may have missed it if you commented on here.

      Reply I voted against the NI increase

    3. Dave Andrews
      October 25, 2021

      They say the Victorian sewage system can’t cope. Well, that’s because we don’t have Victorian levels of housing.
      Watercourses in our area are amongst those that don’t meet water quality standards, yet more housing developments are going up.

    4. MWB
      October 25, 2021

      @MT +1
      England, the filthiest country in Europe. Tories have no national pride.

  59. Geoffrey Berg
    October 25, 2021

    I absolutely agree with John Redwood’s strategy, approach and agenda here. What a pity the government is being run by others rather than by him. Other Conservative M.Ps should take what he is saying far more seriously. That would be good for the country and good for the Conservative Party. It is not what sentiments a
    Minister expresses but what a Minister actually does that is all-important in both economic and political terms.

  60. bigneil - newer comp
    October 25, 2021

    off topic

    2 lists gave

    UK – AREA – – 78th in world

    UK – population – – 21ST in world

    and our govt is importing thousands MORE – FOR US TO KEEP AND PAY FOR ALL THEY COST — – to make us even MORE crowded.

    ROUND OF APPLAUSE – –

  61. Mary Lowrey
    October 25, 2021

    And get your beak out of my soon to be drawn pension. The late fifties, early sixties kids have copped every recession, unemployment, Browns savage stealth taxes and, of course, just as weā€™re getting too bloody old to retrench and try to yet again rebalance our finances, constant assaults on our pensions. Iā€™d vote John as party leader tomorrow. At this rate though I wonā€™t have a vote, Iā€™ll have gone to the Reform UK peopleā€¦

  62. Paul Cuthbertson
    October 25, 2021

    It has been proven that lower taxes create prosperity however like Theresa May and her statement, “Brexit means Brexit”, Nothing will happen.

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      October 26, 2021

      It did – you got your brexit.

      Enjoy it at least.

  63. Pauline Baxter
    October 25, 2021

    Sir John.
    I always agree with your proposed policies on Taxation and Budgets. As far as I understand the subject anyway.
    Yesterday and today you have talked about what the Chancellor should be doing soon.
    BUT WILL HE?
    If you have ANY influence on your Party’s policies
    PLEASE USE IT!

  64. turboterrier
    October 25, 2021

    Off Topic
    Great double act with Farage.
    Hopefully there will be more.
    Enjoyable viewing.

  65. glen cullen
    October 25, 2021

    SirJ I watched you tonight on the GB News Farage programme ā€“ well done, great performance you should be the leader of the Tory Party, if not maybe Reform Party

  66. XY
    October 26, 2021

    Spot on.

    Sadly, he won’t do any of that. His family business, Infosys, co-founded by his father in law, is thye 2nd largest Indian consultancy. The consultancies lobbied for IR35 to kill off the one man band competitition, so he won’t do anything other than make it worse.

    NB Infosys have now inserted themselves into a number of supply chains – effectively as non-productive middle-men – claiming that they “take on the IR35 risk”. In reality, what they do is to offer an inside IR35 contract (i.e. no risk whatsoever) – I suspect the end client is not made aware of this. The rates they offer are comparable to an outside IR35 contract, so the client has no obvious reason to suspect.

    The number of hours people now spend at home, not working, due to IR35… it has to be a real-terms loss to the UK coffers on a massive scale. But no-one is measuring.

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