Below you will find my latest article for Conservative Home:
Since the departure of Margaret Thatcher we have had a succession of Conservative leaders who have spoken fluent Conservative when talking to members, but who have often governed in a more left of centre way.
David Cameron shifted to accommodate the Liberal Democrats in coalition for his first period in office. Together they followed the Treasury/EU austerity model in their economic policy, making reducing the state deficit and debt the central task. They welcomed a surge of EU laws over many facets of life. Both he and Theresa May were enthusiasts to keep the UK aligned with the highly-regulated requirements of Brussels.
Whilst Boris Johnson was personally in favour of a more distinctive, growth-oriented approach, he was held back by Treasury dogma and a Chancellor who favoured high taxes.
The centre left is a very congested space in UK politics. Going for their theories and policies is unlikely to win many swing votes for Conservatives, but it can lose you plenty of votes to abstention or fringe parties, as Mrs May found with UKIP.
It should be no surprise to see members of the party tell surveys they strongly favour Liz Truss over Rishi Sunak. There is a frustration that more Brexit freedoms have not been used. They want the Government to be able to set VAT rates in Northern Ireland so we can cut it for the whole UK, and to allow free trade across the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
There is an impatience with slow growth and no growth and worries that the outgoing Chancellor was not taking possible recession seriously enough. There is a wish to see us honour our manifesto promises on tax and where possible to be removing or cutting taxes, not dreaming up ever more things to tax. There is a wish to see security of energy supply and domestic food production as important requirements of policy. They want us to visibly take control of our borders.
The Sunak campaign, like the Remain campaign, tells us the future is worrying and there is little we can do about it as a nation. It is more interested in trying to frighten us off voting for change than setting out a compelling vision of the future.
We are repeatedly told that Rishi is the grown up, the man with great economic experience who understands the realities. Yet when it comes to debating the details of how he gained this experience and what he has learned from the errors of recent years there is an unwillingness to engage.
One of his main mantras is we have to put taxes up now to curb inflation. So if higher taxes stop inflation, why have the higher taxes this year coincided with higher price rises? How exactly will higher corporation tax and national Insurance bring prices down? Do they really think creating Ā£450bn of money to buy bonds to keep interest rates very low had no part in the inflation we are now suffering?
He now offers us Income tax cuts for the period 2025-9 based on growth. Who can sensibly predict what the British growth rate will be all those years ahead? Why are these affordable?
Of course as Conservatives we all believe there needs to be limits on public borrowing. We should also believe you cannot print your way out of inflation, and you cannot tax your way out of recession. The new prime minister will need to lead a government that does take good care of how taxes are spent and how much things in government cost.
The answer to the large deficit is threefold: we need to get better at securing value for what we spend; we need to focus on priorities and rein in the passion for government to do more; we need more growth to boost the tax revenues we can spend.
As last year showed, a bit more growth brought in an extra Ā£77bn compared to Treasury forecasts of tax revenue with no tax rises.
The Sunak campaign has tried to offer policies it thinks will appeal to Conservative members. The pledge to send many more criminals out of the country did not help, as it was difficult to see how it would be achieved. The promise to tax people Ā£10 for every missed GP appointment did not do the job as many think the problem is difficulty in arranging a GP appointment in the first place (and in changing it). Who would levy the charge and what would the penalty be for non payment?
The wish to clamp down more severely on those who vilify the UK, meanwhile, raises issues about free speech and censorship that are not easy to legislate. It all looks a bit rushed and headline-grabbing.
Conservative members take a strong interest in politics, and get to see and hear a range of senior government ministers at conferences and party meetings. They also ask their local MP for more detailed information about how these ministers work and behave than you can get from watching TV.
Many of them will have been swayed by Rishiās enthusiasm for higher taxes, his reluctance to sort out the Northern Ireland Protocol, and his acceptance of VAT as an EU tax to look elsewhere for a leader.
They see in Liz Truss someone who did argue to sort out the Northern Irish problems with the EU, and someone who expressed from inside government dismay at the tax strategy.
I read from a Sunak supporter they did not realise they needed to tell the members more about him at the beginning as they thought the members knew him. This is a misreading of the position. It is because the members knew him in office they do not back him leading the government.
We currently have an inflation that is far too high, public spending that is not sufficiently controlled, and a growth slowdown to live with. That is why members want change.
August 10, 2022
Good morning.
Well they didnāt hold him back when he splurged a load of our money on the UNās WHO when the USA under President Trump stopped funding them.
I am going to assume that that is code for a reduction in public spending. If not, then we are very unlikely to see much improvement.
To be fair to the Chancellor, he had a boss that was an absolute rake and a spendthrift and needed to satisfy the manās appetite for self-grandeur to keep his job. Just ask Sajid Javid MP.
August 10, 2022
As poster before :-
The first few paragraphs in particular are sound.
āThe centre left is a very congested space in UK politics. Going for their theories and policies is unlikely to win many swing votes for Conservatives, but it can lose you plenty of votes to abstention or fringe parties, as May found with UKIP.ā
The key issue is whether talk will translate to action with Truss in charge. I still have my doubts on that.
Still nearly a month more of talk too.
August 10, 2022
Liz Truss promises no more lockdowns yet the Government is continuing with its intent to sign the WHO legally binding treaty which gives them the power to impose lockdowns on our country. None of this makes sense. What is the point of giving our sovereignty to a known corrupt body? Why isnāt this being stopped?
August 10, 2022
Christine, probably because at this stage she is not PM and has no authority to stop anything! Give the woman a chance. At this stage all I want is to see dishy Richi walk away with his tail between his legs
August 10, 2022
What Liz Truss believes and what she promises are merely,as Talleyrand famously said, “a question of dates”.
August 10, 2022
+1
August 10, 2022
same old same old
August 10, 2022
I hope Truss isn’t going to be another scheming May.
August 10, 2022
Have we learnt yet that what is promised is hardly ever delivered?
August 10, 2022
I quite agree that Johnson was a spendthrift. Looking back, it will be seen as his most characteristic quality. I remember groaning nearly everyday when another government initiative was announced that involved spending on this, funding that and “investing” in the other. Completely irresponsible behaviour, reflecting his private life.
August 10, 2022
I seem to recall Javid resigned over No.10 interference of spads, control etc. Sunak accepted the job knowing No. 10 was in charge. This is why I am surprised he resigned. He knew from the outset he accepted his role as a puppet.
August 10, 2022
VAT should be scrapped, not lowered, altogether as an EU instruction. It was another way of Govt. increasing tax by stealth. Making all the lower income households pay more than the rich. No plans to increase VAT Osborne told us before election, after election one of the first things he did was increase VAT. Same as the deceit for 80/20% cuts against tax rises. The exact opposite happened!
A penny here and there off income tax is of little use when taxation is crippling on all other aspects of life so the govt can control what we can and cannot do. I prefer the govt. to be honest take tax from income and scrap tax on everything else.
The Tories cannot be trusted on the economy or taxes as a matter of record over 13 years.
August 10, 2022
Yes, Hope, VAT is the EU tax, to provide income for the EU Commission. We no longer need it now. And it is, as you say, regressive, the left’s favourite word of disapproval.
August 10, 2022
@rose, you make it sound as though there was nothing before VAT, the only difference between VAT and the purchase tax that went before was and still is the scope of VAT, even the USA has a State imposed purchase tax system.
August 10, 2022
Concur
August 10, 2022
The BEST policy is to RAISE THE TAX THRESHOLD. Which is what Gerany is doing, as it happens. Raising the tax threshold takes a lot of lower-paid people out of tax altogether, which simplifies the system, and also cuts the payment of benefits. Raising the tax threshold is the ONLY policy that should be adopted, progressively incresing the threshold until it reaches at least Ā£20,000. Nobody earning less than this should be taxed at all. This would be incredibly popular electorally, too!
August 12, 2022
@X-Tory; Raising [income] tax thresholds only helps those currently within the tax threshold, the problem here in the UK (unlike better paid countries such as Germany) is far to many people are in work that pays so little they are already (well) below the current threshold as it is. Lessening the tax burden, in an attempt to help with the cost of living crisis will only work in the UK if it is the indirect taxes that are targeted, VAT, Green levies, Council Tax and/or VED etc.
August 10, 2022
@Hope; “The Tories cannot be trusted on the economy or taxes as a matter of record over
143 years.”There, I’ve corrected that for you…
They have always told porkies about taxation (just as Labour do), and their plans for it, so to get elected. Back in 1979 there was much talk from the Tories about simplifying the tax system, the lowering of income tax especially, but in their very first budget the rate of VAT was near doubled, from 8 to 15%. Even those buying what Socialists called “Luxuries” paid more, the rate being raised from 12% to the new simplified rate of 15)!
Yes income tax rates fell, or were better tapered, but for many any such savings were been wiped out by the rise in VAT and other forms of indirect taxation or the withdrawal of Government supply-side subsidies/controls etc, such as on the price of Milk.
Whoever penned that 1979 Tory Manifesto was a true wordsmith!
August 10, 2022
“UK to become WHO’s largest state donor with 30% funding increase” Sept 2020. A four-year commitment!
“The UK will provide another Ā£1 billion of military support to Ukraine, the Prime Minister has announced at the NATO Leaders’ Summit today (Thursday 30th June). This uplift to funding will herald a new phase in the international community’s support to Ukraine.30 Jun 2022” gov.uk – 7 Jul 2022 ā “The UK has committed Ā£2.3 billion in military assistance to Ukraine thus far.” commonslibrary
The Government will restore spending to 2019/20 levels, totalling Ā£745 million in 2022/23. Provide life-saving humanitarian assistance to those in greatest need, and work to prevent such crises and build resilience to them.30 Jun 2022 commons library
This is just the tip of our donations. The FDCO budget and continuation of the EU aid obligations are enormous, many billions Ā£.
Goodness, how generous! Not bad for an insignificant little country as our resident EU fans keep telling us. So why so much when Rishi tells us we are broke and in a mess? When we can’t help our own workers out?
August 10, 2022
So the country is going to have inflicted upon it whatever 160,000 eccentrics want from a choice of two, neither of which they like that much.
Marvellous.
August 10, 2022
Where do you get the claim “160, 000 eccentrics” NHL
Come on, please explain
August 11, 2022
P2, would you prefer āmale, pale and staleā?
August 12, 2022
No
August 10, 2022
I feel confident that all 160,000 are content that you are not involved in the decision.
August 10, 2022
The country will have a Conservative (in name) government which is what was voted for.
August 10, 2022
How did you feel about the constitutionally appointed PM being dislodged by 60 eccentrics half way through his term?
August 11, 2022
The āeccentricsā had been voted in in December 2019. Have you already forgotten?n
August 10, 2022
An informative article John. I am still trying to see through the mess of other long-winded and circumlocutory comments . Facts and laws are many times double edged and to change anything we have to understand exactly what we are changing from and where we want to go. Opinion doesn’t hold weight until the legal process is fulfilled.
August 10, 2022
An absolutely potty article. Liz Truss is the force for change? Is this the same Liz Truss who happily sat in David Cameron’s cabinet and in Theresa May’s? She is going to sort out Northern Ireland, is she? Well, she happily voted for the Protocol, and described it as a brilliant (oven ready deal) even though it fixes different VAT rates for Ni compared with GB and also cretaes high barriers to trade between GB and NI. She voted for it, every Tory MP voted for it!
August 10, 2022
NI is still in the Single Market and Customs Union isnāt it Gary? Havenāt you been telling us all for months that is a good thing for them and theyāre better off, therefore leave N Ireland to their rules and the rest of us might get to see what is better what they have or what we will get, then perhaps they will vote to give up their EU passports and trade rights.
August 11, 2022
a-tracy, yes, I agree, NI is FAR better off than GB because it is still in the EU single market. And that is what Boris agreed in his oven ready deal. Trouble is, Ms Truss, egged on by the far right of her party, want to rip NI out of the EU single market and put it in with the much poorer performing economy of GB – all in breach of the very oven ready deal they agreed to!
August 11, 2022
So Truss could immediately change the taxation rules for the rest of the UK and work N. Ireland’s taxation rates out within the EU parameters, including giving them compensatory taxation benefits elsewhere if the region earns enough money to pay for them. When this happens, Northern Ireland get to realise the price for their open border with Southern Ireland, their EU passport and their trade restrictions, if they don’t want them then there will have to be an inland border.
There is nothing stopping this government from dropping the vat rate to 15% or making sure all vat exemptions are used. They don’t want to they’d rather play the big player on the international field, being the most generous everywhere but here in the UK.
August 10, 2022
There is such a thing as lying by omission.
August 10, 2022
Do you really think a Corbyn Labour would have done better Gary?
Hilarious.
August 11, 2022
Peter, the Conservatives have been in power for 12 years now. Blaming the Labour party for the disastrous state of our country is, well, hilarious
August 11, 2022
What is hilarious gary, is you thinking the useless opposition party you support would do a better job.
PS
I didn’t try to blame the Labour Party.
Try reading what I wrote
August 11, 2022
Not quite the Lib/Con government was first being used as a big excuse not to enact conservative policies by Cameron.
August 11, 2022
P2, I hope you realise that rose is criticising some Conservative MPs elected in December 2019.
August 12, 2022
Should I be bothered?
August 10, 2022
If the next Tory PM acts to preserve the Socialist authoritarian status quo in a rather vain hope from protecting the party from Labour’s Socialist power bloc that now transcends all areas of the State, and indeed act under pressure from those that now control the USA, then Labour will achieve power in 2024 and replicate the disturbing and sinister scenes of what we are now witnessing across the Atlantic.
First act for the new Tory PM. A law enshrining the right to offend without fear or favour. Give the civil population the opportunity to express themselves on all issues. Criminalising opinion is simply unforgivable.
It is unacceptable that the Tory party has climbed into bed with woke barbarism
August 10, 2022
+1
August 10, 2022
+1 and I believe if was Woke that scared the Red Wall from voting Labour and turned them to the arms of Boris.
Mr Sunak is losing because he is a tax and spend socialist. Then (cruelly) gives some of it back making out he’s Santa Claus.
Sunak is raking it in from price rises.. there is a clear reason to cut tax.
August 10, 2022
Tax on fast price rises is inflationary too !!!!
August 11, 2022
NLA, people don’t even appreciate Sunak gave them Ā£150 back, and there will be a further Ā£400 back in October, Ā£550 back, and they aren’t reminded of a penny of it by the media. If the average D band property is spending Ā£2750 per year, that is a 20% reduction. I’ve been asking people how much do they pay per month for gas and electricity and I was surprised how many don’t know how much their direct debits are or if they’ve gone up a lot; for such a hot topic, I’d expected everyone to have checked.
Just like people earning under Ā£35k pa don’t realise he gave them their employee NI increase from April back in July. Now it’s just their employer paying the cost of his decision. I read employers are cutting hours to make savings to pay the extra taxes on employees and fuel because they can’t put prices up. Those who put prices up often lose customers to companies that don’t use employed workers to get around the extra taxes.
August 10, 2022
https://facts4eu.org/news/2022_aug_redwood_interview_pt2
VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Would Redwood serve in Government again? – “Of course”
August 10, 2022
He better had! š¤
August 10, 2022
It was reported somewhere that he is working in the background as an adviser for Liz Truss which may well be true bearing in mind his unequivocal support for her plus his almost daily questioning of Rishi Sunak’s actions – unless, of course, it was just Westminster gossip!
August 10, 2022
He just need to be the working compass that has been so lacking for so long in UK government. Indeed all my life with a small break during the Thatcher era and even she got quite a lot wrong – John Major and the ERM, EU treaties and Grammar Schools for examples.
August 10, 2022
Sir John would join the cabinet ! Well Mary M that would be a major step forward.
Too many donkeys in Westminster who herd and obey the driver even if it is towards the cliff.
August 10, 2022
Indeed on the ERM, on the EU, the millennium dome, the war on motorists, the net zero religion, climate alarmism, the vast size ofcthecbloated state, the dire NHS, the worthless degrees, the woke lunacy, the extended and pointless lockdowns…
August 10, 2022
I have a bottle of English bubbly in the fridge which I will open if and when he is offered a Cabinet post. Unfortunately I don’t believe it will happen. Liz will probably try and fob him off with a position as an unofficial adviser, so she can ignore him whenever he suggests something that doesn’t fit the globalist agenda to which she’s a slave. We shall see. We can all dream!!
August 10, 2022
” It all looks a bit rushed and headline-grabbing” – true, but it is quite funny to watch and to predict which non-rolling bandwagon Rishi will try to move next.
His latest ploy is to make the police record the ethnicities of grooming gangs – so then Mr. Plod will know officially what the rest of the country has long known unofficially.
August 10, 2022
My next door neighbour works all hours of day and night in transport. He continually moans about his tax bill. An ex soldier, he tells me it is not worth renting out his property because, “it will only go on tax”.
Am I right in thinking that the Civil Service has grown a lot in the last couple of years and that their pay and pensions have skyrocketed? Couldn’t something be done about this?
Less Civil Service means less government and should mean less tax.
August 10, 2022
FAR LESS TAX.
August 10, 2022
Well this will be all down to who surrounds Truss if she happens. The Williamsons, Barclays, Goves of this would ensnare her in a minefield of landlord and company-bashing, tax raising regulatory idiocy, much as Sunak would bring on all by himself.
The only hope is for Truss to take on the few people who get it, and then face down the abovementioned types. It would be one hell of a fight.
August 10, 2022
Sunak struggles because his serial manifesto ratting, tax to death agenda, currency debasing & money printing, extended lockdown and vast waste has caused most of the problems we now have. On top of this he has (tax status Ed) He asks us to wait until he has cut the inflation he largely caused & for seven years before we get any tax cuts (circa seven years from now just before the election after next). Who will invest much in the UK on that basis especially with that other fool Bailey at the FCA.
His other problem is he is far less likely to win any election in 2024 or 2029. He is also foolishly still attached to net zero and climate alarmism (as he 9&11 year old daughters have informed his views) and to open door immigration as he wants to stick to the supremacy of the ECHR.
August 10, 2022
Lifelogic. Can you stop wasting time with a dead argument.
I do not care about climate alarmism. I want to know why you are supporting coal and gas when they are more expensive than renewables and only getting more so.
Are you proposing we subside coal and gas?
August 10, 2022
It doesn’t matter how much something costs if there is none of it.
That is the problem with renewables (except nuclear). Coal and gas and petrol exist when needed. I am quite used to my lights, TV and computer being available when I need the rather than when the sun shines or wind blows
August 11, 2022
So you have loads of blackouts due to renewables, right?
August 11, 2022
And presumably you are for improved storage and battery technology?
August 10, 2022
Also, as an add-on. I have stake in the game here.
I have a the big, old oil-fired boiler which heats my house and burns cash.
I do not look at it and see the future. Really.
August 10, 2022
Sunak = Blair
August 10, 2022
I do not blame anyone for minimising their taxes within the law. This especially given the endless & misguided waste and corruption we have in UK government expenditure it is surely the moral thing to do – so long as you spend or invest it more sensibly than they do. you will almost certainly do more good with it than government will. This especially when you have people like Sunak at No 11 and she should know what her husband was like. Perhaps reversing the decision was the mistake!
August 10, 2022
I think the printing money idea came from his daughters too. For sure denying others a decent tax rate while your wife takes it in for you pretty well tax free isn’t cricket in anybody’s world.
August 10, 2022
It depends on the kind of Change.
Rishi Sunak was handed an impossible task, when the Pandemic struck, and had to act immediately. In my opinion he did a good job in very difficult circumstances.
My vote would still go for him to be Prime Minister.
August 10, 2022
You can argue he had to pay out for the first year as the overwhelming forces had prevailed and shut the country down, but how can one justify printing all that money for the second year? He and the Bank created inflation they didn’t need to create. And now they are not owning up to it but blaming other factors.
August 10, 2022
Furlough needed to be scrapped after six months and benefits returned to normal to get people back to work.
Instead it went on for another nine months
August 10, 2022
Covid Fraud losses are expected to be about Ā£4 billion. He set the provisions for those with a lack of checks. Then shrugs as though nothing can be done to track down the miscreants; they can undoubtedly track down on legitimate businesses with longer and longer audits.
Loans of up to Ā£50,000 – no capital or interest repayments for one year after just 2.5% for up to ten years.
There were certain banks google Lord Agnew who grew off the back of this fraud without doing sufficient checks. He lit a massive bonfire of taxpayers’ money.
August 10, 2022
This government could have followed the non-lockdown Sweden model……but Sunak & Boris went with the UN WHO model……lockdown the destoryer of economies and a return to totalitarian state control
August 10, 2022
A good job? You surely are joking? A tax borrow print and piss down the drain & stick to net zero lunacy the cause of much of the current problems.
August 10, 2022
He would be a gift to Labour at the next election. Largely responsible for the current mess, a police ticket, vast serial manifesto ratting, vast tax increases, he caused most of the inflation with his money printing and net zero lunacy and refusal to reduce taxes on energy, his green card, his pathetic promise of no tax reduction until after the Tories are out of office, his green card, his moronic suggestion of Ā£10 fines for missing a GP appointment. You cannot even get a damn appointment! We currently have up to 30% excess deaths (non Covid) at home and about 12% overall.
So what is causing these – lack of competent and prompt NHS care, the many vaccine complications, long Covid, the 5+ hour waits for ambulances then more hours waiting at A&E…?
August 10, 2022
Are the government or NHS trying to find out about these excess deaths. After a period of high deaths one would expect lower death rates not higher as clearly many deaths brought forwards with Covid, NHS shutdown and indeed many adverse vaccine reactions .
August 10, 2022
All of the above, LL.
August 10, 2022
He should be asked what he would do if another so-called pandemic struck? The same again no doubt. This guy will bankrupt us all but he still has wifey.
August 10, 2022
Oh for heaven’s sake, don’t be so naive and gullible. Sunak only did what EVERY other chancellor around the world did. They ALL offered payments to those locked down. There was no alternative. A much better policy would have been NOT to have had a lockdown in the first place, as so many people argued at the time. But NOT Rishi. Oh no, not him. And did he question the Test and Trace MADNESS? Never, in British history, has so much money been flushed down the toilet. It achieved absolutely NOTHING. And we are all paying for that madness now. Rishi was an APPALLING Chancellor.
August 10, 2022
So basically ….. Sir John recognises that Conservative/conservative voters want Conservative/conservative policies but feels it is necessary to explain it to a large number of his fellow, so-called Conservative MPs, who can’t understand why their Champagne Socialist offering for the Party Leadership has bombed so badly with the Party membership.
And that in turn explains why, although we have supposedly had 12 years of Conservative Government, we have had NO Conservative policies …. just continuity NuLabour with a blue rosette.
Party members need to start campaigns to remove MPs, many of whom have been foisted on them by GCHQ, who are LibDems masquerading as Conservatives. Or the voters will.
August 10, 2022
Spot On Donna….the party needs a reset
August 10, 2022
I think you mean CCHQ rather than GCHQ? At least I hope you do!
August 10, 2022
Do we get much value for the Ā£squillions PP keeps bunging France?
Although I did see ( if true) that the French police are slashing dinghies to deflation and smashing up outboard motors.
But we have given France far too much!
August 10, 2022
One dinghy was punctured. One. Just another stunt to make the UK plebs believe they are doing something to stop this illegal entry into the UK. It wouldn’t be half as bad if the non-refugees were deported, but our government welcomes them all, regardless. I doubt they even bother to check their identity. At the rate they are coming in it would take an army of admin staff to check even a portion of them.
August 10, 2022
Are they only doing this because it’s time to negotiate more payments? Why hasn’t this happened before?
August 10, 2022
One boat only I think prob. a photo op? Could it be the agreement is up for renewal?
August 10, 2022
Very coherently argued. As you know both candidates personally, may I ask whether you are confident that Liz Truss will not become the latest in the long line of Conservative leaders to speak Conservative but act Left? And is there a possibility it could be the other way round with Rishi?
August 10, 2022
We have Mr Sunak’s sorry record as hostage of the Blairite Treasury to go on.
August 10, 2022
SirJ coined the phrase āWe donāt believe themā well Iād add āWe donāt trust themā
August 10, 2022
Sir John you write that we need to get more value out of what we spend in order to reduce costs. Who can disagree with this statement other than a spendthrift interventionist who sees the total as the outcome not the outputs?
However your candidate had the opportunity to increase value per pound spent by seeing through her commitment to ending national pay scales for civil servants. Why should a clerk in the North be able to afford a better house and car than one in the South, why should pay scales goes up in the North to compete with Civil service jobs at London pay scales. There was talk of this initiative saving the equivalent of the NI 1.25 increase. Is that not a good idea?
My disappointment over this is two fold, firstly I thought it was fair and a good idea so should be implemented but secondly this was the first policy position Ms Truss found opposition on and she folded like a used tissue. Not a good look for a prospective leader.
August 10, 2022
I suppopse you would like a price surcharge for the North, because we can buy better houses than you can in the south. Utter rubbish. Move to the North.
The real problem here is that civil servants and other public workers, are over paid when compared wth private sector pay and pensions, and should all have their pay cut. Either that, or go onto a money purchase pension scheme.
August 10, 2022
Not really I would like income to reflect cost of living. The civil servant up North should enjoy the same standard of living as the one down South.
August 10, 2022
It was a commitment to end national pay scales for all public sector workers, not just civil servants, based on the figures in her press release (which were taken and extrapolated from a report from the Tax Payers Alliance which, itself, doesn’t stand up to scrutiny as it claims a differential of over 14% when the real figure is just 0.9%).
Does a teacher or a nurse in Hartlepool deliver less value than one in Hemel Hempstead? Are they both worth the same? If so, then pay them the same.
It’s worth reading the opinion of the Conservative mayor of Teesside’s view on Truss’ original proposal.
August 10, 2022
For sure their taking better paid jobs than the equivalent private sector can offer in the north, preventing good small businesses expanding.
August 10, 2022
Then the private sector (which, according to the IFS is only 0.9% behind in terms of salary level) needs to get that little bit better. Isn’t that how a market economy is meant to work?
August 10, 2022
How much you pay someone is purely related to how much you need to offer to get someone suitable. It has F.. all to do with what they are “worth”. What does that word even mean? People whose outgoings are lower will accept a lower wage. That is obvious. So that’s what, logically, you should offer. No more. Everything else is emotion. And emotion is for little children – NOT for politicians.
August 10, 2022
“How much you pay someone is purely related to how much you need to offer to get someone suitable.”
Sounds like you’ve never run an organisation and recruited people. The approach you advocate is a recipe for dissatisfied employees, high turnover and constant vacancies. Good organisations are wising up to the fact that paying people as little as you think you can get away with is actually bad for business.
August 11, 2022
Agree, halve MPs’ salaries & expenses.
August 10, 2022
Hartepool v Hemel Hemstead,
Do you not see a variation PP?
August 10, 2022
When it comes to giving someone decent healthcare or giving children a good education so they have the best possible start in life, no, I don’t.
August 11, 2022
Switching the argument from salaries to social relativity is a weak one.
Living costs are far cheaper in some areas than others yet Unions often demand national pay levels.
It is as illogical as it is ridiculous.
PS
Health care and educational outcomes are not brilliant in London but can be better in some more rural areas where the cost of living is cheaper so your argument doesn’t work.
August 10, 2022
Money is worth more up North than it is down South.
The South suffers from regional transfers of its funds up North so while the work may be the same I question your use of value. The teacher in the North certainly gets greater compensation than the one in the South.
August 10, 2022
Money is worth the same everywhere in the UK. My southern-earned pound still only buys a pounds worth of stuff when I go back up north.
Teachers in the north are definitely not compensated more than teachers in the south. However, if this (or any) government is serious about dealing with the imbalances in this country, do you seriously think that paying teachers less in the places that need the best teachers the most is really going to work?
One only has to look at the retention issues that all the home counties police forces face with constantly losing officers to the Met which (1) pays more, and (2) offers free public transport commuting to and from shifts. It’s a real world example of what would happen all across the public sector all across the country if Truss’ (thankfully dropped very quickly) idea was ever implemented.
August 11, 2022
Teachers in the North can buy more with their salaries than teachers n the South. That is indisputable
August 11, 2022
See how many pounds you need for lunch in London compared to a city like Sheffield or its surrounding towns Peter.
August 10, 2022
@ Peter Parsons – Yes! Let public sector pay be a function of value delivered.
August 11, 2022
A teacher or nurse in Hartlepool could buy a 3 bed semi in Hartlepool for Ā£120,000, a 2 bed bungalow with a driveway for 2 cars for Ā£115,000, a 3 bed-2 bath new build detached with integral garage for Ā£199,995 and a 5 bed-6bath grand home with indoor swimming pool for Ā£575,000 and you are comparing that with a teacher or nurse in the South East?
August 10, 2022
It was her “poll tax” moment, good idea in principal but would never be allowed to fly š
August 10, 2022
Sir John, the “frustration” (to put it mildly!) is not just that “more Brexit freedoms have not been used”, but that the government is not doing ANYTHING. I absolutely despair at this government’s incompetence and betrayal of Britain. As we all know, one of the biggest problems facing manufacturers is the shortage of semiconductors, and China can make this even worse by blockading (or even attacking) Taiwan, which is a very real possibility. So what are sensible, provident and patriotic western countries doing? Well, in the US, Biden has just signed off the ‘Chips and Science Act’, providing over $200 billion to support the domestic production of semiconductors. And the EU has also approved a ‘Chips Act’, and backed this with ā¬45 billion, with the goal of making 20% of the world’s microchips by 2030. And the UK? Well, we have done NOTHING. Not a f***ing thing. Well, that’s not entirely true ā we are conducting not one, but TWO āreviewsā. Yeah, right, because reviews are so much better than ACTION, so much more attractive to global manufacturers than financial help…
NO, of course not. Which is why the Times reports that Intel āis spending ā¬33 billion in mainland Europe on semiconductor research and manufacturing, with support from the European Union, but has no such plans for the UKā. Why? Because, as Frans Scheper, Intelās president in Europe explained: āletās be clear: the announced support of the European Union is helping us to make these investmentsā. Instead of the stupid, useless, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Commonsā business select committee BOTH ‘looking into’ the UK semiconductor industry, what we need is MONEY. NOW. The government needs to offer Ā£10 BILLION in interest-free loans to semiconductor manufacturing companies that open new factories in the UK. That’s it ā no need for any more cretinous reviews. Just STUMP UP THE CASH! NOW. It’s an EMERGENCY. Doesn’t this idiotic, treacherous government understand this? WHAT WILL LIZ TRUSS DO?
August 10, 2022
XT No one in the government understands STEM nor Economics but useless PPE pee pee eee by gum from Oxford or Cambridge seems the latest groupthink fast track fashion to the top of the greasy position sadly. After much talk they think we can just just rely on our past invention track record to create a fantasy magic wand that they can take credit for before it’s arrived. Strategic IT planning is urgently required based on hostile recent world events.
August 10, 2022
Agree – …and it still doesn’t feel like we’ve left the EU
August 10, 2022
Glen, it never will. We are a relatively small economy in the shadow of a massive neighbour, the EU. They set the rules, we follow them. Brexit is the biggest surrender of power and influence in history any country has ever made. I think you Brexiters are now starting to understand there are no āfreedomsā to Brexit, you just declared a trade war on ourselves
August 11, 2022
Lenton a relatively small economy!
So how come we were one of the biggest payers in to the EU? All the additional projects, world aid, Ukraine, Nato?
August 11, 2022
+1
August 10, 2022
Fully agreed, don’t those in power realise the perilous position we are in with regard to China and Taiwan?
August 10, 2022
X-Tory :
+1
Isn’t the Business Secretary supposed to be “mulling over” whether to allow the sale of the UK’s biggest (only?) microchip manufacturer, Newport Wafer Fab, to a Chinese (Government) company? No doubt under pressure to sell from all the communist fifth column communists civil servants at BEIS.
Such a sale would only happen in the UK. Not the US or France or Germany.
August 11, 2022
Why open manufacturing industries in UK when energy costs are increasing exponentially?
August 10, 2022
Sunakās freezing of allowances combined with high inflation gives us a stealth tax of ~ Ā£30 billion+. Yet another reason to support Truss over Sunak.
Justin Welby with his education in History and Law has been talking total drivel as usual this time on climate alarmism and energy again. Will he be moving the bishops out of their many vast palaces to save energy I wonder? Do they pay benefit in kind income tax on these palaces or pay personally the energy bills on them? Does he even know a KWH, Combined cycle gas turbine generator or a Megawatt from his elbow? I rather doubt it.
August 10, 2022
Does anyone in parliament realise that āclimate changeā is a conā¦..I believe they do realise but that theyāre to scared of the media and world opinion to speak out
August 10, 2022
Once upon a time Welby worked for an oil company that produced oil from the North Sea, helping to provide supply for the UK and competition to OPEC. A worthy enterprise.
August 10, 2022
We have massive inflation and current account deficit so we are going for tax cuts without government spending restraint or even an attempt at increasing efficiency, more output from less people. Yeah right.
Sadly I have zero confidence that anyone Truss appoints will push back against the Treasury establishment indeed in 10 years of the Tories we have seen them accept an ever increasing blob in every nook and cranny of government to the extent that Brown and Blair are the true masters of the economy.
Truss has the same cadre of people that caused the current mess, your new slogan āgo green get black (outs)so moving them around will change nothing.
On a related matter, we see the NHS is pushing zoom calls to reduce waiting lists. On the basis that a discussion with a doctor is as long as it needs to be both zoom and face to face should take the same time. Why does the NHS think zoom will reduce lists unless it is merely box ticking.
My latest Dr interaction, they insisted on a phone conversation first, it ended as I knew it would with them needing to do a physical examination. The phone call to save time in fact wasted it because it was unnecessary.
August 10, 2022
Not a waste of time, surely GPS are sitting there doing nothing because of all those missed appointments š
August 10, 2022
…and yet the sort of thing that phone calls could resolve in minutes, like the prescription reminders that were once a call or drop-in box, now use the NHS app which crashes, breaks, and requires people with certain disabilities to get a third party’s help due to its lack of accessibility. For the low income that also includes the expense of an individual smartphone which supports the app, which not everyone has. (I am reminded of the delights one family encountered with the tracing app during lockdown because they shared a single smart phone).
August 10, 2022
I’ve had what I think is a great idea to end the Conservative election leadership farce.
The latest episode is Sunak complaining Truss’ proposed tax cuts are not enough expenditure (compared to his latest plans) to meet the fuel crisis having previously said Truss’ plans are ‘immoral’ and inflationary!
Disqualify both Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss and suspend them both from the Conservative Party. What for? Bringing the Conservative Party into disrepute. I might think Sunak is more guilty but I suppose Mordaunt’s supporters (at least before she jumped on the winning Truss bandwaggon) would think Truss more guilty. Furthermore I cannot believe only 6 of 26 Braverman’s supporters followed her in transferring to Truss but 15 of 31 Tugendhat voters transferred to Truss- I suspect in most ballots some Sunak supporters tactically voted for Truss as the easiest candidate for Sunak to beat. However Sunak is unelectable among Conservative members (for many reasons- precipitating Johnson’s demise, raising taxes to the highest in 70 years etc.,) but Conservative M.P.s supporting him were too out of touch with their own members to even realise that and back somebody else!
When both are eliminated Boris Johnson could remain Prime Minister-indeed if there were another vote of confidence in him, now Conservative M.P.s have seen some of the alternative scenario they did not previously foresee, more than 211 would surely support him (the best available Leader).
August 10, 2022
I read the Chancellor and Business Secretary are meeting with energy companies tomorrow.
They need to tell the energy companies that British people must not be held to ransom for the price of essential energy, derived from British sources, notwithstanding deals that have been signed that hand over those supplies to the energy companies.
We’re looking at extensive civil unrest if something isn’t done, otherwise I predict the default of payments will bring down the energy business.
August 10, 2022
I fear many will find out that smart meters allow them to be cut off remotely. Meanwhile the energy companies need to tell the minister that only policies that increase supplies, particularly of gas, are going to end the crisis. That means promoting more production at home and abroad.
August 11, 2022
Mark, National Grid revealed that since April 2022 the UK has been a major exporter of electricity to Europe.
I wonder if it is true that Spain and Portugal capped gas at Ā£37.15 per mwh compared to Ā£248.66 in the UK? I read it in a tweet. A Bloomberg article said Russia was Spain’s no 2 gas supplier, so who is paying for the difference is it the UK with our increased private user energy cost whilst selling cheaper energy to Europe, Or are Spain and Portugal being given big grants by the EU?
August 10, 2022
The French government has forced EDF to sell to its French customers at rates way below the market prices EDF is buying at. So, EDF is suing the French government for its losses so far; ā¬8.3 billion. The French government already owns 84% of EDF and is now threatening to buy the remaining 16% it doesn’t own.
Sadly, for UK energy customers, the government never kept any equity stakes in its privatisations of the likes of Britoil, British Gas, BP, British Coal, Powergen and National Power.
Reply The state does not need to own an energy business to pay its losses. It can subsidise a private sector business if it wants people to lay the market price of energy out of taxes rather than from consumer budgets.
August 10, 2022
If there was ever an example of the madness of state socialist control it is this ridiculous post by acorn
Defying economics and thinking the state can refuse to accept prices created in the world’s markets.
Like May’s stupid attempts of capping energy prices.
August 10, 2022
Dave. Yes. If it brings down the energy companies perhaps it will be natonalised. We used to have the gas board and the electricity board. Now we have companies all trying to appease their shareholders abd paying themselves large bonuses. The government should never have interfered with energy and never should have followed the climate change religion. It’s all been a big disaster.
August 10, 2022
Good article John. Let’s hope Truss steps up to the mark. If she turns to people like yourself she will make a good start. ALL the advantages of Brexit must be realised. The energy problem must be tackled too and forget net zero until it’s feasible. Surely by now even ministers must have seen that it’s not only when it’s cold and windless that we have no power but when we have a high over us as now. Please push fracking and more drilling. We are looking at these high prices for a number of years ahead. It’s ironic but in the year that I at long last receive my pension almost half of it will be spent on my energy bill and that’s before I take in the extra cost of food etc. My retirement is nothing like I imagined.
August 10, 2022
The conservative party has been adrift for a decadeā¦.its time to reaffirm what the party stands for, whatās the party principals & policies.
They need to tell about the shape, style and size of government and parliament and the civil service.
They need to tell us about our freedoms, about when and where government will intervene.
They need to tell us if they pursue centre, right of centre or right wing views
They need to tell us if the support immigrants first, europe first, the commonwealth first or UK nationals first
They need to tell us honestly about our commitments to the EU, UN, WEF ECHRs etc
They need to tell us about their taxation policy, why they tax, the method of tax and tax loophole
I just want to see what Iām buying when I vote, whereās the great vision from a century ago
August 10, 2022
I’ll believe change when I actually see it.
For far too long, we have had much talk of change but next to no action under Boris and his cronies.
‘We’ll do this and do that’ over and over again, with no evidence that what has been promised actually carried out.
I cannot understand how someone who did a good job as Mayor of London, managed to make a right pigs ear of running the country.
If Liz Truss does manage to deal with the issues that many are concerned about, cost of living, illegal migration and the failing public services (NHS, Police and social services) – then she will likely find herself rewarded with a second term in 2024.
If not, then we will be looking at the grim prospect of a Labour Government, who will be no better than what we’ve previously had.
In a nutshell, Liz Truss is the Tories last chance for many to prove their worth in Government. Fail and the Tories will be out of power for a long time.
August 10, 2022
Mark, I know what you mean, but you’re assuming that Johnson was actually ‘running the country’. I don’t think many of the policy initiatives during his premiership were anything to do with him. For one thing, we know that his initial wish to follow the established 2019 pandemic plan was overturned by the lockdown autocracy. Also, I don’t recall Johnson being obsessed with the Net zero agenda before he got together with Queen Carrie.
August 10, 2022
Sir John,
Agreed. The first thing Truss needs to do is to pull us out of the Net Zero straightjacket if we are ever to have affordable energy and therefore growth.
August 10, 2022
Agree…..repeal the climate change act (a labour law) and disband the climate change committee – first day in office
August 10, 2022
She has perhaps suggested some sort of moratorium on net zero but it was committed to law in The Climate Change Act and you have to assume any alteration will have to be voted on in the HoC – we don’t want Liz to end up in Holloway’s replacement. Mind you, any vote would probably flesh out MP’s true feelings.
August 10, 2022
Liz moratorium isn’t on net-zero…its on a temp suspension of the green levy on domestic energy bills, to aid the cost of living – She hasn’t said anything else on net-zero, the current plans are still in force; the Tory green revolution is still on track (like HS2)
August 10, 2022
Thank you Sir John.
I am confident that when Ms Truss is behind the desk the higher powers will explain the reality of her new position.
If only she would allow a wise counsellor to sit beside her to explain the difference between a meek follower and a courageous leader.
August 10, 2022
Sharp as a bright pin and great insight cutting through the fog Sir John.
When the heat is on or more like off voters would see red if Rishi was our PM appearing on our screens telling us how hard it is as he has no experience of being as poor as a church mouse. In fact he is an example of some who have never had to grow up due to his parents wealth as his utterances on deprived areas and working people show. ITV interview last night was illuminating caught in the headlights showing the whites of his eyes.
August 10, 2022
It is rather more than just hungry for change. I suspect Party members feel similar to the rest of the electorate, thoroughly disillusioned with the Government actions and inaction on other matters. Change wouldn’t be necessary if the thrust of the manifesto was being carried out. Not only has Johnson been a big let down following the previous shambles, but he has presided over what seems 180 degree turn from what Conservatives might expect.
August 10, 2022
One policy I think would get a lot of bang for your buck would be a brutal focus on improving education in poorer areas.
I think this could be relatively affordable and would have massive, long-term chain effects – both through improving lives for the poorest, but also increasing house-prices in nearby areas when rich people move to be nearer good schools.
August 10, 2022
Anyone else watch Theresa Villiers make a complete fool of herself on Talk TV this morning? If not, check it out ….. Mike Graham (standing in for J H-B) ….. several times she assured us that Sunak has a grand plan for tackling inflation but she repeatedly couldn’t say what it is, when it would be implemented or how it would work.
It would, however, involve the B of E which is significantly responsible for creating the inflation in the first place. So that’s reassuring …… not.
August 10, 2022
Villiers praying for Lourdes outcome?
August 10, 2022
Clearly Sir John has a campaign against the Treasury. He was not prepared to criticise his glorious leader Boris. As a fanatical Tory he could not be disloyal however Boris behaved or whatever he did.
Nevertheless the mess we are in, the chaos that exists is his cause and it may take us a long time to get out of it. We nay never do, the decline and destruction – of England in particular – will continue. We need someone who identifies with us nationally and culturally. Thinking global leaders are those we must obey must be abandoned.
August 10, 2022
JR “They want the Government to be able to set VAT rates in Northern Ireland so we can cut it for the whole UK, ”
Surely you can reduce VAT rates in the RUK anyway? So just do it if your government wants to, at least this would prove you are diverging from EU control mechanisms. The minimum standard vat rate regulated by the EU is 15% this is just a bad excuse.
August 10, 2022
That is the question: is the Treasury just using Northern Ireland as an excuse to keep VAT?
August 10, 2022
+1 its a nice earner
August 10, 2022
And therein lies the issue; if you set one VAT rate in GB and another in NI you highlight the fact that the UK isnāt sovereign in NIā¦..and if weāre not sovereign throughout the UK the referendum of 2016 hasnāt been satisfied
So best not change anything and hope & prayer that no one will notice
Our loyal opposition, The Labour Party, have failed in their duty to highlight this matter
August 10, 2022
But we don’t need to exclude NI from the abolition of VAT. That is just rejoin propaganda. Just as we didn’t need to take responsibility for the EU’s border. That was just an EU/remainer ploy.
August 10, 2022
According to the WA-NIP we need to ask permission from the EU if we wish to deviate from VAT norms in NIā¦we could arbitrary set VAT in NI but under the WA-NIP the EU could take us to adjudication by the ECJ
August 11, 2022
And then we could expose the EU’s breaking of the NIP and sort the whole thing out. Show them up for the bad faith actors they are, and get rid of the scam. They will never honour agreements if it doesn’t suit their ulterior motives.
August 11, 2022
PS they are also breaking the Belfast Agreement, which was their dishonest excuse for introducing the scam in the first place.
August 10, 2022
Tuss econoic programme does not handg togetehr and her understanding of economics is if anything very marginal.
She has promised so much that ther is no chance of her being able to achieve what sha has set up to do by the end of 2023, and therefore she is just not a credible leadership candidate.
The economy is a mess for all sorts of resons including Brexit and her obejctives are just no realistic under the current circumstances.
SO NO to Truss
August 10, 2022
Do you not think Rishi has also promised similar if not even more goodies billy?
As you are against Liz I think you have just inadvertently added a good few votes into her side.
August 10, 2022
Bill, if you are so against Truss then she might do something we on here might like.
August 10, 2022
I agree tracy
Just take the opposite view to EU billy and you will always be right.
August 10, 2022
If this forum its commenterās are a barometer to the views of the conservative voters than clearly the proposed policies of Sunak & Truss are out of syncā¦its back to square one
The new leader should be agreeing with the majority of the views on here; so why arenāt they ?
August 11, 2022
āThe new leader should be agreeing with the majority of the views on hereā: Are the 50+ usual commenters here representative of the potential 160,000 Conservative members?
August 11, 2022
YES
August 10, 2022
Sir John,
I hear a a lot of comment on reducing EU regulation and easing costs for business.
I would welcome your general view on a radical reform of taxation along the following lines:-
Abolish VAT and National Insurance; then balance the loss of revenue with a single rate of income tax with a sensible range of personal allowances.
Many thanks.
August 10, 2022
And bring back a generous married man’s tax allowance, no matter what the Harman Act says.
August 10, 2022
Would the party really have got itself into this mess if years ago we had leaders and senior politicians who had stood up in large numbers and rebelled against the continuation of the Blair years?
Perceptions are that we the electorate have been bumped along the bottom on a continuous tide of truths,
half-truths and damn right lies. All the while the change in the caliber and quality of the new political candidates selected fell at an alarming rate in all parties and those that could have changed the tide were banished onto the back benches where they could do the least damage. Too many are in parliament for their own secret agendas and aspirations. How else could this country have fallen for all this green crap which dominates the school of thought of even the most basic of decisions? Has the worm finally turned and those capable will join the likes of our host and do the best for this once great country? I hope a few listen and try and understand when articles lay bare our total incompetency that has governed this country for so long, Time for 520 odd to take a long hard look into a full-length mirror and ask themselves some truthful questions, better still get out on the streets and start walking the talk and listening.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk Lord-Frost-says-theres-no-climate-emergency-Britain-end-focus-medieval-wind-power.
August 10, 2022
Very good Sir John.
I hope your party members, that will vote for the new leader, do read Conservative Home.
August 10, 2022
The Conservative MPs who pointed out how rubbish the Protocol is BEFORE the last election were denied the whip and drummed out of the party. Now you canāt find a Conservative MP with a good word for the Protocol – yet every last one of you voted for it. I can assure you the Conservative party has no credibility in Belfast, none at all
August 10, 2022
What they meant was they didn’t want us to leave the EU. After all, they passed that illegitimate legislation in Parliament by seizing control of the Government’s order paper and colluding with a bent Speaker, which then prevented the PM from getting us a good deal. The NIP is their achievement, their legacy, to try and keep us all under EU control.
August 10, 2022
100% correct…..the NIP was always a trap
August 11, 2022
āWhich then prevented the PM from getting us a good dealā: LoL. The NIP is essentially Johnsonās (and Frostās) achievement as he was keen to stop any further discussions with the EU by the end of 2019.
August 10, 2022
Boring Garner
You really know it is about the extreme interpretation if the NIP by the EU bureaucrats.
August 11, 2022
Boring P2, the British are supposed to be top negotiators. The Johnson-Frostās NIP includes the possible interpretation that the EU has been maintaining since its application.
To go on as you do with āthe EU bureaucratsās extreme interpretationā is rather weak. Could it be that the Davis, Robbins, Raab, Barclay, Frost UK negotiators were simply outmanoeuvred by the EUās Tusk, Juncker, Verhofstadt, Barnier because of the obvious dissensions existing within the PCP during the 2017-2019 UK-EU negotiation period?
August 12, 2022
Yes I thought you might think it was weak heffy.
Nothing positive from you just endless criticism of Conservatives.
But I maintain the EU have done their best to be awkward and difficult in their interpretation of the NIP.
It will have to change.
Fortunately legislation is making it’s way through Parliament.
August 10, 2022
It is not only this country that suffers from poor leadership.
The Biden administration in April sanctioned the sale of America’sStrategic Petroleum Reserve to the highest bidder. They have done so under the logic that putting more oil on the global market at a time when Russia has an energy stranglehold on Europe could force down the pump price of gasoline.
But could the reason be a tad more sinister? As Congressional mid-term elections loom, and the price of vehicle fuels soar to $5 a gallon, has the White House made a strategic energy decision based on politics rather than on what is in the best security interests of the American nation? Because the country that is among the high bidders for their oil reserves is China. With all the uncertainty in the Far East, would not the last country you provide fuel sources to, could well become in the near future a potential enemy?
August 10, 2022
The only thing keeping the U.K. from being an āemerging-market economyā is a currency crisis, says analyst āWhat Brexit has not done by itself, Brexit coupled with COVID and high inflation have succeeded in doing,ā Saxo Bankās Christopher Dembik wrote. āThe U.K. economy is crushed.ā (Fortune.com)
Large parts of the UK production and utilities are owned by foreign private and government entities. It will not be in their interest to let Sterling fall. Foreign Central Banks will buy it to keep up its purchasing power for their exporters and Sterling asset holders.
August 10, 2022
You forget large parts of other nations companies are owned by UK investors acorn
One minute you say the UK is “little britain” then you decry the fact that we exist in a global environment.
Which is it acorn?
August 11, 2022
More confused economic nonsense. Have a look at Table 1 and Fig 1 at https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/balanceofpayments/bulletins/balanceofpayments/januarytomarch2022
Not exactly signs of a growing economy. The comment about foreign direct investment (FDI) is a result of IMF data that infers that a large part of UK FDI is In practice, cross-border financial transactions between firms belonging to the same multinational group; transactions that pass through empty corporate holding shells with no real business activities, on there way to one of our tax havens. All to minimise multinational corporations global tax bills.
August 11, 2022
P2, Provide percentages of what is owned by foreign companies in the UK and by UK companies in the RotW, if you really want to make your point. And for once donāt try āit would require your essayā excuse.
August 12, 2022
No answer from you acorn just more of your cherry picked statistics.
The UK has billions invested abroad in companies.
Do you think that is good?
Would you stop foreigners owning companies in the UK?
What retaliatory action do you think other nations would take?
August 12, 2022
But that is missing the point as usual heffy.
Would you and acorn place restrictions on foreigners buying UK companies?
You both keep complaining about foreigners buying or investing in UK companies.
What about foreigners buying UK shares investments and properties?
Stop that too?
What reaction do you think would occur if we tried create your protectionist little Britain.
August 10, 2022
āāāOne of the most prominent scientific journals has retracted a 2014 study about coral reefs over allegations of the data manipulation after the authorās university said they āno longer have confidence in the validity of the dataā.āāā
Wasnāt the decline in coral on the great barrier reef the measure and justification for net-zero and climate change ! Next someone will find out that the oceans arenāt rising as forecast
I also donāt believe academics nor Sunak & Truss stance on net-zero or this governments so called green revolution
August 10, 2022
Whitehall sources have responded to claims by Mr Sunak that he would shred EU red tape within 100 days of getting into office with “disbelief” describing his promises as “brazen”. Instead, they have accused him as Chancellor of “watering down” Brexit freedoms and allowing Treasury mandarins to block Britain diverging in tax law from Brussels. The announcement yesterday saw sources close to Mr Sunak add criticism of Brexit Opportunities Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg’s pace in getting rid of decades of regulations inherited from Brussels.
But sources close to Mr Rees-Mogg have insisted that “the biggest blocker of getting rid of EU law was the Treasury headed by the former Chancellor Rishi Sunak.” The claims have been strongly denied Mr Sunak’s team who insist he was the only minister to deliver Brexit reforms. Mr Rees-Mogg is one of a number of leading Brexiteers, including the influential European Research Group (ERG), who have backed Ms Truss instead of Mr Sunak even though she voted Remain in 2016 and he backed Leave.
A senior Whitehall source said: “Liz Truss was helpful with every single difficulty we had with Brexit policy, she was always on the right side [in government discussions] and ambitious. “But Rishi Sunak was always risk averse and on the side of the Treasury mandarins who did not want us to diverge from Europe. MPs know this.”
August 10, 2022
Watching The People’s Forum with Liz Truss live on TV from Leigh.
In front of a very articulate questioning audience of people.
Very impressed with Liz
Looking forward to her becoming PM
August 10, 2022
Sir John,
Which of the two candidates will be the quickest to cancel the Net Zero lunacy please ?
It’s going to happen at some point.
It’s just a question of how long the communist fifth column in the civil service, the MSM and the educational establishment can continue to con the country into believing that the UK can be powered on āthe breezes that blow around these islandsā (PMās Conservative Party conference speech October 2020).
Letās hope the u-turn comes quickly before there is even more of the intended economic damage and before people take to the streets.
August 10, 2022
As a
Matter of urgency more reservoirs need to be built and a way of stopping water waste in the form of flooding.
August 10, 2022
A good piece. A shame it’s on that pretend-Conservative site.
They’ve stopped anyone from posting who challenges their net zero, more house building, anti-Brexit/Boris theme. A number of people find that their posts simply disappear – sometimes a large chunk of older posts as well.
The current editor is not a true Conservative in my estimation, he even allows expelled party members to post (e.g. Gauke). And the delusions of grandeur, frequently expressing his own thoughts as “this site believes”.
Perhaps the party needs a genuine official site rather than this de facto offering that is so easily infiltrated by a Lib Dem type.
August 10, 2022
For the past 30 years you the political class have presided over the systematic destruction of our ability as a country to produce our own affordable energy. All in the name of nett zero. All of it achieved with the three card trick of closing down our own UK sources and substituting them with overseas sources and their attached strategic vulnerability. For which read insane prices. Our own government has acted as a malevolent foreign power in their persuit of a false god and now the population are picking up the bill, a bill they cannot afford. Meanwhile you the politicians, with no financial penalty, continue to play the fiddle in your weimar creation.
August 10, 2022
@Agicola Ed Miliband was the clown Energy minister who declared closing down our power stations and John Prescott hammered on about Kyoto. Thank you Labour for your crack pot irreparable damage to our country and gift to our enemies. Gordon Brown killed off self employment with IR35 as a bonus.
August 11, 2022
We are told that it is impossible to find a programme of tax cuts that will sufficiently protect the poor. Thy this for size:
(1) Introduce zero VAT on the sale of all clothes. People should prepare for reduced domestic power consumption this Winter by purchasing a triple layer of thin sweaters.
(2) Increase the income threshold to start paying income tax and personal NI from the current level to Ā£18,000, approximately the minimum wage annualised. This could be part of an overhaul of income tax and personal NI. The threshold for the 40 % income tax rate should be raised to at least Ā£60,000. If revenue is a problem, income tax rates of 25% and 45% could be applied to income above each raised threshold, just so long as no-one paid more income tax than before. This would be roughly the same as income tax in Nigel Lawson’s time, adjusted for inflation.
(3) Increase the number of subsidised bus routes, while cutting back on underused railway services.
(4) Price controls and forced investment should be targeted at the natural monopolies – the water and sewage companies, Transco (gas) and the National Grid (electricity). The retail gas and electricity companies should be left unregulated. Cameron and Osborne had the right idea – the more retail companies, the better.
August 11, 2022
I don’t believe that we should allow people to tell us that “it is impossible to find a programme of tax cuts that will sufficiently protect the poor”.
They seem to come at from a totally non-Conservative viewpoint that every measure must benefit “the poor” (whoever they are – it’s never defined) more than any other group.
The objective seems to be to “level up” by ending up with everyone in roughly the same position – not poor but very well off either.
If we see a raft of households chewing through their savings to make ends meet while “the poor” are given handouts, I suspect more voters will be lost than gained.
Isn’t the Conservative way to make everyone’s life better? And to provide incentives for people to want to do better? If there’s no higher echelon of society to which to aspire, then we’ve failed people, since they will get the same standard of living whatever level of effort they provide.
Tax cuts do that – they make everyone better off. Note that we’re talking about cutting RATES of tax, the overall tax take should go up – due to those good old incentives, changes in behaviour. Without incentives, human beings don’t tend to do much.