Treasury austerity

The Treasury tell us that imposing a windfall tax and raising taxes to tackle a budget deficit is exactly what Mrs Thatcher did, so they should do the same again. What they do not go on tell you is Mrs Thatcher only followed that Treasury advice for the first two years. It is true she inherited inflation that was far too high and very weak state finances from a spendthrift Labour government.Ā  When she took the Treasury measuresĀ  it helped put the UK into recession, took the Conservatives to 23% in the pollsĀ  and needed a change of policy to sort the economy out.

She and the Chancellor shifted policy to relax the squeeze and then embarked on a series of cuts to Income tax, taking it down from 30% to 25%. Various smaller taxes were abolished. The economy started to grow again, which was much needed both to bring the deficit down as revenues picked up, and to cut unemployment which had been far too high in the 1970s.

The latest figures show that Treasury austerity has badly slowed the economy this year compared to the world leading growth of last. Just as last year faster growth meant the borrowing kept on undershooting Treasury/OBR forecasts by a large margin, so now we see borrowing in excess of their forecasts. Let me try and explain again. The amount of borrowing, the gap between spending and tax revenue, isĀ  very sensitive to the growth rate. If you grow faster you get more tax revenue in and have less money going out on benefits to the unemployed and low paid. If you sandbag growth there will be less tax revenue coming in and more people need financial support.

So Treasury, give us a growth strategy, not more austerity.

102 Comments

  1. Mark B
    June 24, 2022

    Good morning.

    I do not believe that the Treasury is behind this. The government has grown drunk on high spending and taxation. It is spending and QE that has created inflation coupled with a Heathite government and a return to the 1970’s style industrial action which is destroying the economy.

    The only thing missing is our application into the Common Market.

    1. Lifelogic
      June 24, 2022

      Indeed and we have still not left the EU properly so that could follow.

      1. Donna
        June 24, 2022

        They’re aiming to align us with the Single Market. That’s basically what Macron proposed a month or so ago.

        1. glen cullen
          June 24, 2022

          Iā€™d suggest that our government hasnā€™t ā€˜unalignedā€™ us, and are happy to maintain and retain all EU laws and regulations

    2. Cynic
      June 24, 2022

      Further to today’s election results, Conservative MP’s would do well to consider the axiom that governments that preside over recessions do not get re-elected.

      1. glen cullen
        June 24, 2022

        Boris has already ‘moved on’ and has probably instructed his cabinet to never discuss it

    3. Pauline Baxter
      June 24, 2022

      Mark B.
      You have a good point there. This government is drunk on high tax and spend. Hardly a ‘conservative’ type policy is it.
      I wonder whether there are ‘Rejoiners’ lurking amongst our politicians and/or civil servants.
      There certainly appears to be some concerted action to destroy our country as a free and prosperous nation.

  2. DOM
    June 24, 2022

    Scholar’s got Sunak in his back pocket but then show me a Tory politician who isn’t captured and cornered by one cause or another. This form of capture politics can only happen when politicians choose to submit by remaining silent. MPs are not elected to remain silent

  3. Lester_Cynic
    June 24, 2022

    Iā€™m delighted to see that the government have lost 2 more seats, not that the other 2 parties are an improvement

    When is Fataturk going to deliver the things that he promised in the 2019 manifesto?

    1. Ian Wragg
      June 24, 2022

      Now you’ve had the trouncing you deserve perhaps you will get the message that we don’t want impoverishing with net zero or Brussels setting our tax rates.
      The government is responsible for sky high energy costs and the public know this.
      Heed the warning.

      1. Donna
        June 24, 2022

        What’s the point in voting to be CONNED?

        Whoever Conservative/conservatives vote for, they get lunatic Socialist-Green policies rammed down their throats: tax rises; mass immigration; and “green” policies which will reduce their living standards and further wreck the economy.

        There has been “no benefit from Brexit” because Johnson/Gove/Sunak have done NOTHING to deliver any benefits.

        1. Shirley M
          June 24, 2022

          + several Donna – this government has as damaging to the UK as the EU! We had no choice with the EU, but this government certainly did have a choice and look what they have done to the country!

          WHY? Is the WHO/WEF/ECHR/EU and all the rest of the world more important than the well being of our country and our people?

        2. Mickey Taking
          June 24, 2022

          so boot them out.

        3. Jim Whitehead
          June 24, 2022

          Donna, +1,

        4. glen cullen
          June 24, 2022

          And while Rome burns with ever increasing energy bills our business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng is now only considering whether or not ā€˜to consider next stepsā€™ re-issuing of potential shale licences – https://drillordrop.com/2022/06/24/minister-to-consider-next-steps-on-fracking/

      2. Narrow Shoulders
        June 24, 2022

        Sir John – please ensure this message is not lost among the self-flagellating “learning” that we will be promised.

        – Net-zero
        – Immigration
        – Inflation driven by money printing

        This is why your party’s support did not come out in the recent by-elections.

        1. Narrow Shoulders
          June 24, 2022

          – Tax

        2. glen cullen
          June 24, 2022

          Spot On

    2. Lifelogic
      June 24, 2022

      Indeed and reverse the vast & manifesto ratting tax increases and endless misdirected government spending and the vast government waste. We have appallingly high taxes & appalling and declining public services too.

      1. Hope
        June 24, 2022

        +1

    3. Dave Andrews
      June 24, 2022

      Well there was the commitment to deliver a high wage economy – just they didn’t say they would do this by increasing inflation, so the higher wages wouldn’t represent an improvement in living standards.

    4. Iain Moore
      June 24, 2022

      I wonder if the Tory MPs who threw Neil Parish to the wolves so they could manufacture some victim status, rather than having a quiet word with him, now feel it was a good days work?

      1. Lifelogic
        June 24, 2022

        I still want to know who the two appalling women MPs who reported him were? Surely anyone sensible would just have told him to stop being such a damn fool.

        1. Iain Moore
          June 24, 2022

          Yes , you might think that was what a fellow colleague might do, but to publicly destroy him was pretty vicious stuff. If other Tory MPs know who they are they would be well advised to give them a wide berth. This all began with claims about Angela Raynor’s antics in the Commons, initially all hotly denied , until it was shown she boasted about it. Of course she remains in the Commons, and others who have much more serious charges against them, but the hapless Parish got destroyed.

  4. Peter
    June 24, 2022

    The big news today are the two by by-election results.

    Big losses and the resignation of Tory party chairman Oliver Dowden. He says someone must ā€˜take responsibilityā€™. Meanwhile Boris Johnson had said it would be crazy to resign and is staying out of the country for a while.

    What happens next?

    1. Dave Andrews
      June 24, 2022

      In both of which the Reform Party got nowhere. So no chance for anyone who thinks there’s room for an alternative right of centre party.

      1. Ian Wragg
        June 24, 2022

        Wait until Nige takes over.

    2. Narrow Shoulders
      June 24, 2022

      He says someone must ā€˜take responsibilityā€™.

      I hope he takes responsibility, now he is free of collective responsibility, to speak out on misguided net zero policies and outsourcing, our overtaxed position and profligacy within government and the civil service.

      It will be too convenient if the focus is on lying and parties. Voters disagree with your governments direction not how much and where they drink.

    3. Hope
      June 24, 2022

      Why is Johnson and Charles in Rwanda? What is wrong with zoom for these two eco loons? How about their carbon footprint they lecture us about! Took their wives at our expense as well. Why? What are the wives contributing? I thought there is a cost of living and energy crisis? Did they go on the same UK taxpayer funded plane or separate ones?

      1. glen cullen
        June 24, 2022

        The Commonwealth 2009 proposed that climate change presents an ā€˜undisputedā€™ threat to the security, prosperity, economic and social development of people. ā€“ I see the commonwealth as another arm to the UN https://thecommonwealth.org/climate-change-declaration-2009

      2. anon
        June 24, 2022

        Hopefully Jet fuel for private flights is now being fully taxed, perhaps a GREEN additional carbon tax plus VAT.
        Public commercial flights could ofcourse have this applied to first class only.

        It will never happen because carbon taxes are for the little people.

        Are you getting it yet?

    4. Sea_Warrior
      June 24, 2022

      Boris has to stay out of the country so he can claim that at least one person has been flown to Rwanda on his watch.

    5. Mickey Taking
      June 24, 2022

      Johnson will eventually return saying he has tested the ‘refugee hotel’ arrangements and found them most satisfactory.

      1. glen cullen
        June 24, 2022

        From a free all inclusive 4 star hotel to a free all inclusive 4 star hotel in the sunā€¦.whats not to like

  5. Donna
    June 24, 2022

    You’re talking to the hand Sir John. The faces ain’t listening …..because they’re Socialist faces in The Treasury and No.10.

    The faces need changing.

    1. Lifelogic
      June 24, 2022

      Depressingly the likely alternatives to replace Boris as PM are even worse green crap socialists and remainers too. The thought of Labour/SNP/Libdims/Plaid is even more depressing.

  6. Everhopeful
    June 24, 2022

    Could the results of last nightā€™s by-elections have penetrated the incredibly thick skulls?
    They are doing it all wrong.
    They are supposed to be CONSERVATIVES!

    1. Mark B
      June 24, 2022

      This government has less than 18 months to run. In my opinion this is usually the time you want to start to woo the electorate. So far, we have someone who thinks he can win elections by the sheer force of his personality and the fear of a Labour / Liberal coalition. Forget the SNP, they’re too small a number in parliament and the price of their help will be too high.

      1. Everhopeful
        June 24, 2022

        Agree 100%
        I do wonder whether Johnson was ā€œplacedā€ by pro EU forces to play act and bumble around in order to make Brexit seem damaging.
        And because the tories are basically two parties ( it seems to me) if Johnson goes we may well get a Rejoiner PM.

      2. Hope
        June 24, 2022

        Mark,
        I think it is too late. Peoples minds are made up. Too many mess ups and lies. No one trusts him. Worse for them people are being hit in their pockets. This will not change in time for the next election. False promises will have no bearing. The Socialist Tories broke all their manifesto promises, economy, immigration, Brexit, taxation, energy etc.

        Who in their right mind would pay farmers to leave their land to go wild instead of maximising food production, promised as part of Brexit to get rid of cap and help farmers? The Johnson and Charles eco loonies should also see it would help their argument to reduce transport across the world! Or stop France bullying UK, same for fishing grounds. Why stop red diesel for farmers!

        Still no action against China or to prevent dependence on China goods!

        1. Mark B
          June 24, 2022

          They bi-election and the size of swing could be the final nail in Johnson’s Premiership. Once all those MP’s with less than 20K majorities realise what awaits them the knives will come out. Only two problems are, can he still be challenged, who will replace him ?

          I’d go for David Davis MP. High profile and seems a decent chap.

  7. Lifelogic
    June 24, 2022

    Indeed for growth you need far less of the vast levels government waste and misdirected spending, lower and far simpler taxes, a bonfire of red tape, cheap reliable on demand energy, abandon net zero. Police that actually addressed real crimes and the appalling child abuse in so many northern English Towns rather than investigation of comedianā€™s jokes and people Tweets and an NHS that actually worked rather than letting people die on waiting lists.

    Boris yesterday was boasting about how much the government were spending (largely wasting) on rail projects. He should kill all this too. kill loans for worthless degrees (at least 75% are), stop blocking the roads, abandon the appalling attacks on landlords and indirectly on tenants, get the DVLA, Border Force, Social Services and the rest of the state sector to perform competently.

    As we see in the by-elections the public do not want a socialist green crap, expensive energy, open door immigration, tax and regulate to death Conservative Party.

    1. Mark B
      June 24, 2022

      When Johnson talks about how much he is spending he fails to mention, or indeed anybody else, how much this is costing the taxpayer as some of this money is borrowed.

      1. Hope
        June 24, 2022

        Johnson thinks talk of throwing money at something will impress the public, instead he should be striving to get value for money and cutting back what public sector gets. Starting with NHS! He is not going to change. He cannot even get civil service back to work.

        I cringe each time he says he spent x billions on this that or the other. Even Ukraine. We had a general yesterday saying it would take years to replace the amount of arms given to Ukraine!

        1. Lifelogic
          June 24, 2022

          +1

    2. glen cullen
      June 24, 2022

      Boris pledge today to the UN and commonwealth
      https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-pledges-new-support-for-countries-on-the-food-security-frontline
      Ā£130 million World Food Programme
      Ā£133 million for UN R&D agricultural partnerships
      Ā£52 million for UNā€™s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).
      Ā£80million CERF allocated in April for famine.
      Ā£37 million for the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development [IFAD]
      Ā£17.7 million through the FCDOā€™s Green Growth Centre of Expertise to improve fertiliser in Rwanda, Kenya and Ghana.
      Ā£2 million for the Nutrition Match Fund, in Nigeria and Mozambique

      No wonder our taxes are so high

      1. Mark B
        June 25, 2022

        glen

        Nigeria is an oil rich country. One would have thought that they would have enough funds to do that themselves ?

    3. glen cullen
      June 24, 2022

      Commonwealth games 2022 Birmingham – cost to the taxpayer Ā£778 million

  8. Jason
    June 24, 2022

    We’ve taken back control but I’m not sure we have the calibre of people in place to exercise it and certainly not to our advantage. Boris and Co will have to go – we need honest people in leadership – we need a change back to old fashioned decency.

    1. Mickey Taking
      June 24, 2022

      The haystack is in in front of our eyes- now to find the needle in it.

    2. glen cullen
      June 24, 2022

      hear hear

  9. Bloke
    June 24, 2022

    Treasure is a quantity of precious gems or other valuable objects.
    Is there a single one in the Treasury building?
    The present Chancellor demolishes values.

    1. Mickey Taking
      June 24, 2022

      The note to be left in the desk drawer – ‘we gave all our money away’.

  10. Roy Grainger
    June 24, 2022

    Who do you mean by “The Treasury” ? Sunak ? The teenage SPADS ? The Civil Service ? It’s important to know because the latter group couldn’t care less about a Conservative loss at the next election, their jobs are safe.

    reply All of the above

    1. Hope
      June 24, 2022

      JR,
      Johnson is in charge, not civil service, spads or anyone else. He has the power to change staff, departments and everything else. Accept the responsibility of govt and stop blaming the world at large.

  11. Shirley M
    June 24, 2022

    What happened to Conservative MP’s? They should be in the Labour, Liberal or Green party. Is this more of the LibLabCon cartel all offering the same thing that politicians want in order to make sure we vote for what ‘they’ want. ‘They’ being who exactly? Definitely not the electorate. ‘They’ are no Brexiter, that’s for sure, and I am not even sure they are British! Although we do have direct experience of some remainers wishing ill on our country, in the hope it will push us back into the EU. Why do ‘they’ want to destroy our country, not just financially, but demographically and constitutionally, by destroying democracy and replacing it with deceit, dishonest and authoritarian government. I doubt our country can ever recover from such deliberate and destructive actions! It is becoming crime central and all the foreign criminals are made welcome (don’t we have enough of our own?) and never deported.

    1. Narrow Shoulders
      June 24, 2022

      Quite – the present Conservative party have decided to become New Labour to woo the electorate. They should realise that the electorate will vote for the real thing not an imitation. We voted Conservative sufficiently to get Conservative. We will not be fooled again.
      #noneoftheabove – I’d rather register my distaste than vote for this shower. I can only hope a significant percentage of the population does the same, then maybe Sir Kneeler, the anonymous Lib Dem leader and Wilimena Wallace may also get the message.
      Policies for the majority please?

      1. a-tracy
        June 24, 2022

        NS well Lord Frost said that ‘None of the Above’ made their mark in Honiton the Tory vote collapsed from 43% to 20% nearly 20,000 conservative voters stayed at home. The Libs went up from 25% of the electorate to 29%. In Wakefield turnout was extremely low, the Lab/Lib vote actually fell from 28% to 20%. The Tory vote fell from 30% to 12%! People that gave their trust in Boris’s manifesto promises – gave him their middle finger. There are messages for a whole lot of the political class, you are working against our Country, we are fed up to the back teeth of you. If you think this was some sort of success then enjoy your moment.

        Boris – time to stop mooching around with your hands in your pockets, get on with fixing the mess and work FASTER and SMARTER.

        1. Narrow Shoulders
          June 24, 2022

          a-tracy – For it to be registers the voters need to go and spoil the paper. Staying away won’t make the sea-change required.

          More spoiled papers than the winner gets will question legitimacy

          1. a-tracy
            June 24, 2022

            If that happened and the seat automatically had to come up for re-election if a % of NOA was higher than all the other candidates then people would come out otherwise I know a lot of people not bothering to vote shows their disdain.

        2. Narrow Shoulders
          June 24, 2022

          The media reporting on the results do not look at the analysis of the electorate, they report on the share of the vote. Every spoiled paper reduces a candidates share of the vote.

          It was highly notable that in both by-elections it was the Conservative vote that stayed home while Libs and Labour switched to each other depending on who would win. The Conservative voters who stayed away should have turned up and spoiled their paper, then the winners would have much less to celebrate as they would have won with a paltry percentage of the electorate.

        3. Pauline Baxter
          June 24, 2022

          a-tracy.
          Thanks for your comment.
          I agree, ‘none of the above’ won those elections!
          Indeed, I agree with all you have said.
          Shame we can’t get Lord Frost elected as P.M.

          1. Narrow Shoulders
            June 25, 2022

            For none of the above to win – the paper needs to be spoiled otherwise it is just put down to voter apathy not disdain.

  12. Graham
    June 24, 2022

    The increases in tax are following the green agenda. They want us poor and dependent on handouts.
    The catastrophic mess that is being made of the world by the ruling class shows it’s well past time that government ceased being our rulers and went back to being our janitors. They should run basic public services and stop ruining our lives. However going by past results I doubt they could even do that properly.

  13. Everhopeful
    June 24, 2022

    A major online selling platform has started sending out emails about how they are now telling delivery staff to ā€œstand backā€ at the door for everyoneā€™s safety (?? Covid, monkeypox, polio??)
    I tried to find out exactly what the emails were getting atā€¦to no avail.
    This sort of fear mongering will not help the economy!
    The unions and these complicit, woke companies will push us back into lockdown territory.
    In fact the strikes and this sort of nonsense are replicating the conditions of lockdown.
    Mrs Thatcher would not have stood for this!

    1. hefner
      June 24, 2022

      The delivery person rings or knocks on the door. When someone opens, the delivery person who has put the package in front of the door takes a picture of the package with that someoneā€™s feet and legs with his/her tablet from two-three meters away as a proof that the parcel had been delivered.
      Within a few minutes (the time the delivery person gets back to his/her van or lorry and click on their tablet system back to HQ) one gets a message that the package has been delivered including the picture and asks one how the delivery had been. Did it deserve five, four, ā€¦ one star?
      I donā€™t see what the fuss is all about.

  14. Iain Gill
    June 24, 2022

    I see David Frost (on twitter) is the only one making sense re yesterdays election results.

    1. Everhopeful
      June 24, 2022

      Thanks for that tip.
      Cheered me up no end.
      OK..terrible for Tories but definitely no so great for the other two main parties.
      Good!

      1. Iain Gill
        June 24, 2022

        you can buy me a tea one day šŸ™‚

  15. MPC
    June 24, 2022

    Net Zero rules everything, itā€™s what Boris Johnson most wants, and it is intrinsically anti the economic growth that is desperately needed.

    1. Iain Moore
      June 24, 2022

      The Germans have slashed the Green levy and firing up their coal fired power stations, the Dutch too have removed the restrictions they have on their coal fired power stations, meanwhile we continue to be punished by the Green Zealots in Government.

      1. glen cullen
        June 24, 2022

        Never under estimate the power of the carrie

  16. Mickey Taking
    June 24, 2022

    The day to hide bad news arrived. Good luck hiding it.
    It couldn’t be clearer – unseat Johnson. Start a rebuild – but of the values abandoned under his Government.
    The clock is ticking and getting louder.

  17. Everhopeful
    June 24, 2022

    Very depressing that the smaller parties were virtually cancelled and deplatformed by the extreme far Left which has taken over this country.
    Very depressing that this is allowed to happen.

    1. hefner
      June 24, 2022

      What are you talking about? ā€˜Extreme far Leftā€™?
      The voters must have thought that voting for the smaller parties was a waste of time. Ever heard of tactical voting?

  18. Sir Joe Soap
    June 24, 2022

    Whatever, people seem to be voting for the real Liberal Democrats rather than the ones masquerading under a Conservative banner. Makes sense don’t you think?

  19. Nigl
    June 24, 2022

    How is restoring the triple lock, however welcome, non inflationary but somehow (modest) tax cuts are?

    I agree with other correspondents, you are in a massive mess, you are throwing Brexit away, and reacting in panic rather than a structured approach linked to a Tory vision, whatever that now is.

    My ever courteous MP Leo Docherty tells me the NI bill going through will solve the Protocol issue, but will it? What will it actually change because Ministers will still have to trigger action and action being taken on the EHRC but again, will our Supreme Court not defer to it anyway, and why havenā€™t we pulled out. Because Boris despite his BS tied us to it in the Brexit agreement.

    I see Oliver Dowden has resigned, at least one honourable person but frankly I have zero hope, as Lifelogic points out the alternatives to Boris are a shower.

    1. Hope
      June 24, 2022

      Nigel,
      Read Ben Habibs assessment on the protocol. It is a damp squib or lack lustre value. It is limited as only a small part will become law.

    2. glen cullen
      June 24, 2022

      They only ever resign from their government post, not their party or their position as MP

  20. Iain Moore
    June 24, 2022

    The Treasury? Surely the Chancellor , he is supposed to be dictating policy to the department. For while now I have felt that Rishi Sunak is Gordon Brown mark II, all tricks and wheezes and complicated little bits of this and that which fails to get noticed, so he doesn’t change the sentiment in the country. There is supposed to have been Ā£20 billion of help given to people, but Sunak has managed to do it in such a way it fails to get noticed.

  21. Bill B.
    June 24, 2022

    When will he go?

    And I don’t mean Putin.

    1. glen cullen
      June 24, 2022

      The other Marxist will go when he loses the next general election or maybe not

      1. glen cullen
        June 24, 2022

        no no no …..he’ll go when he’s called to high office at the UN

  22. a-tracy
    June 24, 2022

    Why are you having to tell Conservative Ministers this?

    I don’t know why the 100% Conservative Treasury is being so stubborn, do ‘a Labour’ and open up the taps, Sunaks is not bothered if he loses his seat he’s in a fortunate situation that he has his own kiss-off money bag, but surely by now the conservative MPs that do like their jobs should wake up and if standing outside with placards chanting works (it’s only a matter of time before Boris caves to them) then that is what you should do.

    By the way if we are all paying Ā£600 per house to subsidise the railways why don’t we have Ā£600 worth of train vouchers to use per annum on the rails, that would improve productivity keep them busy and make us feel we’re getting something for all this free money.

    1. Mark B
      June 24, 2022

      That is actually a good idea. Or at least vouchers for cheaper weekend travel. Should get more people on trains and visiting other parts of the country.

      1. a-tracy
        June 28, 2022

        Actually Mark the train companies know which trains run with only 25% occupancy or less and could just advertise those trains for the free passes to be used on.

  23. ChrisS
    June 24, 2022

    These two election results are not the time to panic, but an acknowledgment that it would be far easier to win the next election under a new leader would be sensible and should prompt appropriate action.
    Who it should be is open to doubt, but my vote would go to any credible candidate who would put a certain John Redwood into No 11.

    I have said this here before, but to put clear blue water between the Conservatives and the motley coalition of Labour, Lib Dims and SNP who would make up the alternative government, the new conservative leader’s policies should be :

    Abandon Net Zero by 2050. UK progress towards Net Zero should be no more or less than the average progress made by the largest polluters, China, US and India.

    Adopt proper Conservative policies towards business and private landlords.

    Lower taxation all round and simplify the whole tax system. I would prefer a flat tax arrangement but that is probably too radical to contemplate. A new tax handbook of no more than 2,000 pages would be a good start.

    Reform the Civil Service so that when Governments change, the heads of departments become political appointments to ensure adherence to the policies of the new government. For decades it has been obvious that when there is a change of government, policies hardly change at all. That is what the Sir Humphries have always managed to achieve. Indeed, the whole Civil Service is designed for this to be the case.

    Devolution needs sorting out so that all four nations have broadly the same amount of self-government. This most definitely does not mean the regionalisation of England, which must remain one country.
    The Barnett formula must end and the four home nations must be made to move towards self-sufficiency as far as is possible. There can be no situation where Scotland can use English taxpayers’ money to provide benefits that are not available to those that are paying the bills !

    Mid-term election losses are nothing new, nor are the size of these two anything to be surprised about.
    As Milliband found out, Labour can’t win without a coalition including the SNP and English voters will not rush to support a Labour PM who is in the pocket of Sturgeon, Blackford, and their deeply unimpressive group of MPs.

    There is all to play for and a working majority should still be within reach.

  24. turboterrier
    June 24, 2022

    They can’t change their mindset, they are wired that way so it is a case of situation normal.
    Bit like Boris carrying on as usual. After last night’s results what he is doing is not working and driving us deeper into the mire.
    With executives, shareholders politicians all taking big wage rises and dividends is it any wonder every man and his dog want big pay rises.
    What has happened to leading by example? Boris is a busted flush.

  25. Mark
    June 24, 2022

    The windfall taxes had already been put in place by Tony Benn. All that Thatcher did was to advance their payment.

    Petroleum Revenue Tax Act 1980
    1980 CHAPTER 1
    An Act to make new provision in respect of petroleum revenue tax so as to require payments on account of tax to be made in advance of the making of an assessment, to bring forward the date from which interest is payable on unpaid and overpaid tax and to provide for altering the rate at which such interest is payable.

    Perhaps we could use a mirror measure to slow down the payments of green subsidies that are not needed in present market conditions? Limit ROC payments by setting a cap measured as the value of ROCs plus market prices in 2017 when the ROC scheme closed, indexed for CPI inflation, less current market prices.

    Reply She taxed the banks

  26. Mark
    June 24, 2022

    I see the government is finally considering relaxing the biofuel mandate that requires the addition of low mpg ethanol to petrol and cooking oil to diesel. Food will be in short supply thanks to limited expensive fertiliser application reducing yields: it makes no sense to put it in our fuel tanks. It isn’t even green when you do the sums properly. This is something I and others have been calling for for a long time. Why does it take so long for government to wake up and smell the cooking oil?

    1. ChrisS
      June 24, 2022

      Exactly right, Mark. It was always nonsense to use valuable farmland to produce biofuel when we are not self-sufficient in food production.

      Just as long as we are told which brands of fuel are to be rid of ethanol. I have three much-cherished cars that now have to be run on super unleaded as their fuel system is vulnerable to 10% ethanol. It is not available at many garages and the price is extortionate.

  27. Mike Wilson
    June 24, 2022

    Inherited from a ā€˜Spendthrift Labour Governmentā€™. Indeed. Still the problems Margaret Thatcher inherited in 1979 are a mere blip compared to the problems the Labour/Lib Dem government will inherit in 2024.

    Yours is the most spendthrift government in history. The highest taxes for 75 years, the worst public services in living memory. Time to stand aside and let someone else have a go.

    1. ChrisS
      June 24, 2022

      Would you really prefer a grubby coalition of Labour, the Lib Dims and the SNP, because that is the only alternative Starmer would be able to assemble !

      1. Mike Wilson
        June 25, 2022

        If youā€™re happy with what you have now, there is no hope.

      2. hefner
        June 25, 2022

        CS, So I guess you are happy with what the country has got at present, and would not even consider the possibility of changing the electoral system.
        Beati pauperes spiritu ā€¦

  28. X-Tory
    June 24, 2022

    Austerity for the British people, but Boris has just announced another Ā£2.7 million to help homosexuals in the Commonwealth. I kid you not – check it out! With priorities like that I can’t imagine why Conservative voters are abandoning the party …

    One of the big issues in Tiverton was the lack of NHS dentists. People are having to pull out their own teeth! This is a HUGE problem in Devon – and 100% caused by the government! The government says it “is reviewing the NHS dental contract”. ‘Reviewing’? We don’t want more stupid government ‘reviews’. Or ‘consultations’. WE WANT ACTION. NOW. IMMEDIATELY.

    This is why the government is viewed with such contempt. Its inability to tackle problems QUICKLY. How many reviews or consultations are held in wartime? None. Governments just make instant decisions and get on with it. And that’s the spirit and attitude we want now. A wartime attitude to problems that says that every problem must be solved with – as Churchill used to demand – “Action This Day”. One of the reasons that Boris was popular was because the public thought he would bulldoze obstacles out of his way (like he attempted to do with the prorogation of parliament). That’s what we want – a man who gets things done – IMMEDIATELY. A man who says: ‘f*ck normal procedures – I just want this solved. Now’.

    And finally, here’s a genuine question for you: why isn’t dentistry treated like every other sector of NHS care – free at the point of delivery? Think how popular that would be!

    1. a-tracy
      June 28, 2022

      Tony Blair ditched NHS dentistry for the private model we have now with sub-levels of care for everyone who can’t afford care plans or private treatment prices.

  29. formula57
    June 24, 2022

    Yes! Let the cry go out: growth not austerity, Redwood not Sunak!

    You offer not only pleasanter policies but ones that will leave us all better off. Meanwhile, we endure the Sunak Slump.

  30. Pauline Baxter
    June 24, 2022

    Sir John, you are right as usual!
    How ironic for the Treasury to quote Mrs. Thatcher’s first years as PM!
    She learned fast didn’t she.
    Shame we can’t bring her back.

    1. Mark B
      June 25, 2022

      Amazing. There have been no less than six PM’s and some plus thirty years since her departure and, despite all this, we still hold her, our first woman PM, in the highest of regard.

      That really puts all the others to shame.

  31. lewis
    June 24, 2022

    I fully agree with you Sir John. I hope many more people in the party will see it your way.

  32. turboterrier
    June 24, 2022

    Until we get people in cabinet and government that fully recognise and understand the damage which the waste of government funds causes, then we are not going anywhere. People have got to be totally honest, responsible and accountable for their actions.

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