As Rachel Reeves shifts her ground and worries how to pay all the bills without economic growth, a simple answer is staring her in the face. Cut out wasteful  spending and huge public sector losses.
Start with the Bank of England, predicted by the OBR to lose an astonishing ÂŁ240 bn between end 2022 and the full wind down of its expensive bond portfolio. Losses to December in the current financial year have been over ÂŁ30 bn, all paid for by taxpayers. Why? Â They could copy the ECB policy and greatly reduce these current losses.
Move on to nationalised railways, costing taxpayers over ÂŁ30 bn last year for losses, subsidies and capital spend. Demand a new plan that boosts efficiency and sells more tickets, with a much reduced taxpayer cost.
Require the highly paid Post Office managers to end their losses, cutting off revenue subsidies. If they cannot, change managers.
Set out clear and urgent plans to recapture the ÂŁ20 bn plus of lost productivity in public sector administration. Start with a staff recruitment freeze for admin posts.
Stop Councils buying up commercial properties and investing in utilities. Some Councils are already losing millions on bad purchases.
Have a moratorium on new road schemes that reduce highway available for cars and vans and or impede flows at junctions.Too many businesses are made inefficient by traffic congestion.
February 2, 2025
All BGO stuff. But Starmer’s gang is not interested in obvious stuff. They are interested only in building a socialist Utopia, even though it has been tried some many times before and failed every time. It has always failed because it has never been tried hard enough. As in Bertold Brecht’s Mahagonny it wil once again end in disaster and they still won’t understand why and will still try again – even harder next time.
February 2, 2025
None of us know Sir Keirâs motives. He may just be a clot for all we know. But if he means to build a socialist utopia, as you say, he would have to do many bad things.
He would need to disgust our friends, reward our enemies, trash the economy while expanding the payroll vote, grind the productive classes between the millstones of taxation and inflation, weaponise the law, crush free speech, jail dissenters, release criminals, unsettle society by mass replacement with alien cultures, drive out the rich, import, favour and empower foreign paupers, expropriate the kulaks, ration energy, wreck industry and destroy jobs.
Then, having provoked the necessary civil unrest, he would cancel elections and pass emergency powers to make himself dictator.
Happily there is no sign of any of this. Oh waitâŠ
February 2, 2025
@Nick +1
Oh wait⊠yes he is managing all these things with the support of a traitorous Parliament, that we empowered and pay and they do everything but serve, support and work with.
February 2, 2025
+1 I agree with you 100% Ian B
February 2, 2025
Nick
+1
Brilliant, thanks.
February 2, 2025
@Peter Gardner +1
February 2, 2025
If government constrained itself within its tax take it would not need bonds.
Gift the Post Office/ Royal Mail to a private logistics company such as Amazon, who from experience seem to know what they are doing, profitably.
Yes to your freeze of the CS, but go much further and cut it back. A start could be made at the FCO with those who totally unnecessarily came up with the Chagos fiasco. What illegal substances were they indulging at the time?
Switch gradually all the CS and public sector workers to largely funding their own pensions, as do the self employed.
Killing Nett Zero stone dead, along with its overseas grants, and switching energy policy through 180° with a benefit to consumers business plan would be a start on the road to sanity.
Halve overseas aid to emergency assistance only.
The UK, under the harmer Starmer , wrecking Rachael regime, is in an ICU of its own making. In desperate need of a dose of Trump/Reform serum, but having dropped the drug cupboard key down a drain. They will not listen to the guidance from this diary until the money runs out, as is their history of congenital failure.
Reply Government does not own Royal Mail.
February 2, 2025
It is notable that Sir John rarely mentions public sector pensions as a huge potential long term saving.
In this article Bank of Engkand bonds are mentioned which would be a long term saving. But the ÂŁ10-15 billion per year that could be saved if employers’ contributions we dropped from over 20% to less than 10%
and public sector pensions became defined contribution is left out.
Reply I proposed switching new contributions to public sector pensions to money purchase in 2010, closing the final salary schemes and funds, but Osbourne would not do it. We would have huge savings by now if he had. It is still a good idea. A government worried about spending levels at the very least could close final salary schemes to any new entrants as they recruit new staff.
February 2, 2025
Noted Sir John.
February 2, 2025
Sir John, The final salary pension scheme was the reason I worked for forty years at much lower rate than other trades men were earning in the seventies, but that decision has payed me during retirement. we both benefitted The Government and I . They got all those years at a cheaper price , people forget that side of the bargain!
February 2, 2025
Iâm under the impression Amazon does not make much money selling products and delivering them.. AWS, itâs cloud service, provides the majority of its net income.
February 2, 2025
Question John, who’s making money from these bond losses. Is it actual loss or is it an accounting ploy to skim taxpayers money. That’s a serious cost to the treasury.
Thieves and her boss are in hock to the public sector unions, yesterday’s papers said there were 515,000 civil servants, just what do they all do. Apparently Milibrain has 2400 working for him to destroy our energy grid.
As for the railways and post office they are a law onto themselves so don’t expect any efficiency there.
Thieves is going to come after us again in March when she runs out of money.
Reply It is a real loss. The Bank bought these bonds at stupidly high prices and is now selling them at much lower prices.If they held them to repayment they would lose less.
February 2, 2025
@Ian wragg – the real proof that the BoE is reliant on Taxpayer for bail outs, handed to it from Government. So logic, it is not actually independent as it is Government that supplies its income and survival – as such Government is its Boss. Remove the funding it goes under, keep paying and you are the responsible entity calling the shots
February 2, 2025
Every gilt says that the Treasury owes money to the holder. For about a quarter of all the gilts in issue, currently valued at ÂŁ655 billion, the holder is the Asset Purchase Facility run by the Bank of England. The Treasury agreed that it would make up any losses the Bank incurred from its gilts operations, but it appears that legally the Bank could dump them all on the market tomorrow and then demand the Treasury compensation due for the massive losses, which the Treasury would be unable to pay. So just on that basis the Bank is now more powerful than the government. However the Bank is not a private bank, it is owned by the Treasury and Parliament could change the law so that one arm of the state, the Treasury, was no longer required to pay this other arm of the state, the Bank that the Treasury owns, on demand. Then it would be the Bank that was technically bankrupt, not the Treasury. But either way the consequences for the country would be catastrophic.
Reply Nonsense. Neither the Bank nor the state are bankrupt. The issue is the need to limit the losses. No need to sell any of these bonds.
February 2, 2025
Of course it is only a hypothetical scenario but as far as I can see the Chancellor does not normally have the legal power to order the Bank to cease selling off any or all of the gilts in the APF. Maybe I am wrong – Richard Murphy points to Section 19 on the Treasury’s reserve powers in the Bank of England Act:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/11/section/19
but that is for “extreme economic circumstances” and the order can only apply for a limited period.
Reply Of course they can tell the Bank.
February 2, 2025
Where in the Act is the Chancellor empowered to give that direction to the Bank?
Reply Where is it banned? The Bank had to get government written consent to buy all the bonds.
February 3, 2025
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/11/section/10
“10 Operational responsibility.
In section 4(1) of the Bank of England Act 1946 (power of the Treasury to give directions to the Bank), at the end there is inserted â , except in relation to monetary policy â.”
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/quantitative-easing#
“Just as with QE, it is the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) that decides on QT.”
reply not true. they had to ask permission for qe
February 3, 2025
@Denis Cooper – the simple management in taking money by force of Law from you an me and everyone else, we have empowered the Chancellor to spend it with our best interest being the override. We did not instruct the Government to give our money away for incompetence. To do so would suggest we favour incompetence above prudence
It is our money not the BoE’s, the Chancellors, or the Governments. If we through our democratically elected representatives deny the money to keep bailing them out, as they are not independent – they then have no place to hide. So instruction from those authorising the hand over of our money means they, those that are handing it over, are in charge and responsible.
I would be all in favour of the BoE going back to where it stood before it was nationalised. But the UK Government as always wants control, holds the purse strings therefore takes responsibility for all its(BoE’) actions
February 3, 2025
Initially the APF purchases were to be funded by the Treasury, and checking back I recollect that there was an Order, but to get exemption under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 not under Section 19 of the Bank of England Act:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2015/08/20/the-economic-impact-of-cutting-the-deficit/#comment-778987
Then:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2015/08/20/the-economic-impact-of-cutting-the-deficit/#comment-778999
“However a Section 19 Order would have to be approved by affirmative resolution, while approval of the exemption Order was only by negative resolution and so with a drastically curtailed period for objections it could much more easily slip through under the radar, both the parliamentary radar and the media radar.”
That was QE, started in a crisis, whereas the QT is being done under calmer circumstances.
I wonder what would happen if Rachel Reeves publicly told the Bank to stop selling gilts at a loss, whether somebody would rush off to court saying that she had no power to do that.
Reply She would agree it with the Bank as all QE has been agreed!
February 2, 2025
As of June 2024, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) employs around 4,500 staff
February 2, 2025
So, before Miliband arrived there the wonderful Fory government thought 4500 people was a reasonable number to do the work of the department. I wonder what that âworkâ is. Does it have targets? Key Performance Indicators of any sort?
February 2, 2025
MW : “Does it {DESNZ] have targets? Key Performance Indicators of any sort?â
Yes, these are set by the unelected CCC and the courts as PM May made Net Zero by 2050 UK law (without a proper debate, without a vote and without a costing). The CCC regularly set âcarbon budgetsâ and the tax-payer has already been taken to court by climate activists, who are partially funded by the tax-payer, for not complying with these âcarbon budgetsâ. So our energy policy is determined by the unelected CCC, unelected climate activists and unelected judges (who declare they know nothing about energy and climate).
Or, the short answer, is that the performance of DESNZ is measured by how much we are de-industrialising and hence reducing our CO2 emissions and thus saving the planet.
February 2, 2025
And last, but not least, stop the daily boats across the Channel, that are costing the taxpayer a fortune, and changing the face of this Country.
February 2, 2025
+1 We need to use our army instead of those civil servants who are scared of the invading army
February 2, 2025
Good morning.
Put an end to subsidies to wind farms and stop this stupid idea of Carbon Capture.
February 2, 2025
Addendum
Stop all Foreign Aid for 90 days and assess whether such aid is equally beneficial to the UK economy and, if not, stop it. This is what President Trump is doing, so why can’t we ?
February 2, 2025
Indeed carbon capture is total insanity. The BBC were even on about the first Carbon Capture on a cargo ship. This must be even more expensive and even more pointless. Reeves was even on about electric aircraft. Has she done a calculation of the battery weight and volume. Not to mention the fire risks. She has two maths O levels it is not hard to see how daft this agenda is (other than perhaps for a tiny few very short journeys and even then).
Range anxiety and battery fire anxiety bother rather worse than for EV cars. Plus where is the low carbon electricity coming from? Will they only fly when sunny or windy?
February 2, 2025
O/T interesting that the Norwegian government has collapsed due to the latest interference from Brussels. The evil empire wants to control Norways electricity grid to force them to export their abundance of power to prop up the EU. This of course will make Norwegian electricity prices astronomically high whn the public want cheap reliable energy.
Another pushback against the deluded net zero job destroying EU policies.
February 2, 2025
About 50% of our gas still comes from the North Sea although Parliament is desperate to close it down to reduce our CO2 emissions. 30% comes from Norway. Weâd better hope that our PM doesnât manage to persuade his Norwegian judiciary colleagues to ban the export of their gas, on the basis that burning gas will destroy the planet, as a judge has attempted to do in the UK.
February 2, 2025
This Chancellor is damaged goods even now and has not the skills nor authority to cope with the challenges you describe.
Neither has her Party endured fourteen years of Opposition to surrender their fond hopes, attempted realization of which will tolerate waste and be content with rising tax burden.
February 2, 2025
I’ve made up my mind about this Chancellor. Even if she does a 180° on her damaging decisions, I wouldn’t trust that she has learnt anything. She has shown conclusively she’s not fit for the post and I will put any discretionary investment on hold until she has gone.
February 2, 2025
@formula57 – ‘This Chancellor is damaged goods’ how can you be sure. Every thing seems to be according to her bosses plan ‘personal political ideology’ before Nation and its People – nothing else makes sense
February 2, 2025
@ Ian B – if her boss approves of her, he is alone. Markets, Labour backbenchers, the people do not, as is becoming clearer daily.
February 2, 2025
As the national debt continues its inexorable rise the IMF are going to force precisely these measures to reduce government spending in return for financial support.
As far as I can see the new governmentâs strategy is to continue shipping in migrants to artificially increase GDP – one million a year are predicted between now and 2030
With Trump now disrupting international trade with his tariffs it looks like we are in for a spell of market volatility, which the UK is not in a good position to withstand
February 2, 2025
SG :
The “shipping in of migrants” is not simply to “artificicaily increase GDP”.
February 2, 2025
You ask too much! How can you possibly expect such decisive action from a government that is not only thick but stupid too.
February 2, 2025
None of this is going to happen simply by making a case for it.
The defenestration of the current Labour government will be required.
That will not happen a result of writings or speeches. Nor will a surge in support for Reform make a difference.
February 2, 2025
@ Peter – so it is direct action then, at the barricades?
February 2, 2025
F57,
I donât know.
We could be a nation that will continue to put up with whatever government decides until the next election.
Alternatively, a hostile American administration might effectively undermine Labour. Small protests may build. An unforeseen spark may bring government down.
Locally, people have now taken to burning ULEZ cameras in addition to chopping them down. Khan has not managed to curb these actions. Small stuff – but lots of small stuff can build into something bigger.
February 2, 2025
I’m not sure barricades and violence mixed with arson? is a solution. Other types of protests including a continuing major rise in Reform voting intention might secure a clear defeat of this disgrace of a government.
February 2, 2025
MT,
I doubt it.
Large protests, like those against the Iraq war, were ignored.
Poll tax and Brixton protests were not. These events are also symptomatic of a society in decline.
February 2, 2025
Abandon net zero and save billions.
February 2, 2025
Indeed save billions and with no negative effects positive effect in fact a bit more CO2 tree and crop food and cheaper more reliable energy is a net good. Other than to the net zero zealot nutters like Ed Milibandâs egos. But nearly all MPs support net zero. This as almost none understand anything about energy, climate, physics, logic⊠and love deluded virtue signalling.
February 2, 2025
When will everybody realise its all been a corrupt scam by the greedy politicians of the far left
February 2, 2025
Abandon net-zero and save a nation
February 2, 2025
Indeed all this plus ditch net zero, have a bonfire of red tape and scrap the workers rights bill. Also control the borders but Labour are doing the complete reverse. Even further relaxing the rules of illegal migrants to encourage even more. Plus they are clearly going to further align with the EU. So even more red tape.
I blame 14 years of the Con-Socialists for giving us this even more appalling government. Suank even gave us it 6 month early by throwing the towel in. What a pathetic, net zero pushing, pro ever more immigration and vaccines pushing man. Sure the are âunequivocallyâ safe – unsafe, very dangerous, ineffective and never even needed anyway – for most people. Even had they been remotely safe and effective!
February 2, 2025
@Lifelogic – we should never allow Cameron, May, Johnson, Sunak and now its ‘continuity brethren’ off the hook, they destroyed conservatism they have deserted the centre of the UK people the true Conservatives. UK Conservatives, its majority have been disenfranchised by those above. None of the showed support for the UK, its People, Democracy, a Legislator of our own, a future for us and a children. Just because the Two Tier Crew is more vigorous, more ideological doesn’t let them of the hook – they opened the door
February 2, 2025
INDEED
February 2, 2025
People that actually export to, and import from, the EU say that there is a lot more red tape involved in that process since we left. One often hears about this awful âEu red tapeâ – do you have any examples?
February 2, 2025
Perhaps one problem is some of this is done by councils – the road schemes and utility investments (are they really doing that?! How preposterous if so). The bill eventually lands with the taxpayer of course but control is at one remove.
No mention here of the 300-500 quangos (the actual number is unknown or at least undisclosed). Many of these, almost certainly the large majority, could and should be closed resulting in cost saving and more accountable government. A recruitment freeze is a good idea to stop expansion immediately, but to really grasp the problem there will need to be redundancies. Someone on X the other day put up a list of current non-medical positions being advertised by the NHS for such things as âdiversityâ and âaccessâ officers, all on c. ÂŁ100k pa.
Itâs a very legitimate criticism of course that all of this could and should have been done by the Conservatives (the only recent govt which did such things was the Cameron coalition, probably the only vaguely right of centre govt of the last 14 years.)
February 2, 2025
@Richard1, my Council is digging up the least busy roundabout in Chichester, a stone’s throw from County Hall (surprise). It’s making it “Dutch” (I.e. narrower for cars but with a complex weave of cycle lanes around and through, to which cars have to give way).
It must be costing a fortune (approaching ÂŁ1m wouldn’t surprise me) , in a district where the roads are riddled with potholes.
I guess less than 40 cyclists a day will use it. The roundabout was already a slow one (safer for cyclists than most). I’m not convinced the new spaghetti junction affair will be safer. It’s just virtue signalling at our expense…any rational authority would repair potholes, benefitting cyclists and motorists
February 2, 2025
Just checked, the Chichester Dutch roundabout is expected to cost ÂŁ950,000. Suspicious that the estimate didn’t break the more newsworthy ÂŁ1m barrier. But with cost overruns…
February 2, 2025
We have a current, real time example of a quango adding cost and burden to business. The FCA has taken upon itself a role to force financial services companies to implement the kind of DEI nonsense which is now being consigned, rightly, to the dustbin in the US. Think what you like about such policies, but we do not elect the FCA and cannot remove it so why is it making laws which impose costs and burdens?
The FCA is a candidate for abolition with a new small dept at the BoE then tasked with a sensible light touch regulatory approach. We got by perfectly well with far fewer of these sort of people in the past
February 2, 2025
Richard1 : “Someone on X the other day put up a list of current non-medical positions being advertised by the NHS for such things as âdiversityâ and âaccessâ officers, all on c. ÂŁ100k pa.”
I presume the NHS Diversity Officers are now working to employ more UK nationals?
February 2, 2025
Readers may remember the fuss about a ’roundabout or two’ replacing one in California, Wokingham.
After spending ÂŁ5.5m motorists and pedestrians alike are confused as to who has right of way, and who gives way. Near collisions happen regularly.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpv96lyp4o
Sir John may allow this to demonstrate what has been done, wasted many would say.
Reply It is one of the worst examples of Lib Dem waste
February 2, 2025
MT :
The BBC report makes it clear why this roundabout has been designed the way it has when they write:
“Wokingham Borough Council’s executive member for transport, Martin Alder, said the aim of the design was to slow down traffic….”
So I suppose, like all Labour’s policies, particularly Net Zero to destroy our industry, economy and properity it’s working.
February 2, 2025
Labour should have been prepared after the 14 years they wasted in opposition doing near-nothing.
They could have planned what was sensible to enact, and then done it as soon as they became elected to govern. Instead theyâve made bad decisions, attempted corrective U-turns, and canât wriggle out into any sensible position toward better.
Labour remain, stuck deep down the pan, having encrusted even more S-bending waste that might take years to flush.
Meanwhile, the Reform Party are building a powerful Dyno-rod, well on schedule.
February 2, 2025
It’s a shame that Truss didn’t use this advice.
February 2, 2025
+1
February 2, 2025
Sir John
Do they understand, dare I say it care? Political ideology has got in the way of thinking, the desperate need to turn people into images of your own personal self for your own personal esteem are all fight common sense â fighting the people, not working with.
The answer is simple the UK is a corporation a corporation competing with 190 other corporations for a similar future funded from a similar competitive bunch of consumers. As such there is no future to be had or created from political ideology or dogma â that a dead-end route to obscurity. A future will come to those that are simply well managed. As with a business it is the management of the resources and the expenseâs(costs) first that is the override.
February 2, 2025
We have many political wannabeeâs all saying they are the new Thatcher, thinking there was something mythical about her style. Her actions werenât political, they were simple management, the same management that families throughout the country practice routinely every day. To buy something you first had to earn.
The political MsM portrayal was of her (Mrs. Thatcher) smashing the coal miners. It was far from it; all she pursued was that costs had to be controlled and expenses earned. We had the hardline Socialist control state employee Unions that kept coming back and saying the government has to pay us more money â what the meant is the taxpayer had to give them more money. That was the Coal, Steel, Auto Industries all State run all demanding money all unable to compete on the open market. It was the unions Socialist political ideology now embedded today in this government that killed their industries, in the same way this government is now killing the UK.
It is Bad political ideology from the Unions and Government if they think the taxpayer should be the override on real management.
February 2, 2025
Thatcher knew the remaining stocks of acceptable access to decent quality coal was rapidly running out. That in an ancient industry that caused the workers horrendous health hazards and early death, as well as the practical risks in working underground. So, do we continue to grow subsidies and pretend jobs for life, or face closures in the face of calls for higher pay and union pistol to the head? Nobody came out winning, harsh reality had to be faced.
February 2, 2025
Thatcherism = Living within your means.
February 2, 2025
@Mark B +1
Yup, also called budgeting, real budgeting or even common-all garden house keeping as in ‘management’.
A budget isn’t what you tax others in response to their hard earned endeavours, but how you limit what you need in taxes to keep the basics well oiled while keeping expenditure under control – same thing really, house-keeping and management. We haven’t seen that ability practised in the UK since Thatcher
February 2, 2025
All very sensible suggestions but they are not the labour way – halting the decline of British industry and making the UK solvent just do not fit in with their plans.
…and the rest! If fossil fuels go down the it will take all industry and associated activities with it.
So they have no interest in booming the UK economically – that purpose is at cross-purposes to everything netzero demands.
When we were in the EU it felt like we were on an express train to hell — Now we are on a supersonic jet to oblivion.
(It’s all in the netzero plan: ABSOLUTE ZERO)
February 2, 2025
@Bryan Harris – it is not a leap to suggest this was a Starmer plan to force the UK back under the control of his unelected unaccountable pals in the EU – have they offered him a high paying job?
Then again in this project he still has the backing from the bulk of Parliament. The spin, the innuendo, the false promises so he can fight democracy know no bounds. We already have two tier Laws, next is two tier versions of democracy – then and us
February 2, 2025
@Ian B
Agreed.
Blair is still itching for EU president’s job – that may be the reward.
February 2, 2025
Scrap the ÂŁ9 billion to Ukraine which Rubio says âhas lost the warâ.
February 2, 2025
“Start with the Bank of England … ”
Well, I have suggested a radical rethink about that:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2025/01/15/how-do-we-get-faster-growth-in-the-uk/#comment-1494218
“Could it help if we terminated the independent central bank experiment initiated by Gordon Brown in 1998?”
I simply put “Why is the Bank of England selling bonds at a loss?” in to google, and this came straight up:
https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2023/07/28/why-is-the-bank-of-england-selling-bonds-at-a-loss-when-it-does-not-need-to-do-so/
“Why is the Bank of England selling bonds at a loss when it does not need to do so?”
from July 28 2023, which came from the same chap who had this rant a few weeks ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvq7IZw4l1M&t=1385s
“Economist dismantles Rachel Reeves’ economic strategy”
He speaks of her with utter contempt and does not expect her to survive for very long.
Reply I think I was the first to raise this, here and in the Commons.
February 2, 2025
“Tackling Waste”- read bring costs under control
From the Telegraph – ‘Ed Miliband may be agonising over the success of net zero but Xi Jinping has no such scruples.
In a bid to meet soaring electricity demand, the Chinese premier is overseeing plans to burn more coal than ever before â increasing the countryâs annual usage by an extra 75m tonnes.
The planned increase in coal production will undoubtedly strengthen Chinaâs position as the worldâs biggest source of greenhouse gases, with the country already emitting the equivalent of 15bn tonnes of carbon a year â almost a quarter of the worldâs total.’
How much of the Chinese ‘green house gases’ is attributed to the UK off-shoring industry and importing energy. extra wind-farm equipment and solar panels??
China a competitor on the World stage for the UK, has plentiful cheap energy to keep industry ‘growing’. Red Ed must surely be in their pay why else would he and this Government be filling the Chinese Coffers with hard earned UK money? That is not Government, that is not controlling expenditure that is vanity, political ideology over common-sense.
May, Johnson, Sunak and Starmer are what in China would be deemed as ‘traitors’ all working for the competition all punishing the UK People and the Country as a whole with punitive destructive laws that aid a foreign competitor. These Guys have all exponential increased World ‘Green House Gases’, while punishing a people and a nation – creating crippling debt and taxes along the way.
Britain, by contrast, is a climate minnow, emitting around 400m tonnes a year. This is down from 817m in 1990, with Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, attempting to drive this number as low as 155m by 2035. These amounts will never make a difference to anything other than ensuring the UK doesn’t have the ability to earn and and fund a future.
A cost easily controlled by government, but instead refused by government to pander to personal vanity at a whole nations cost.
February 2, 2025
Ian B:
The fake science of the climate crisis is a Far Left political campaign designed to destroy our industry, economy and prosperity. It is not dissimilar to the political campaign led by the Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenko against genetics and science-based agriculture in the mid-20th century, rejecting natural selection in favour of a form of Lamarckism, as well as expanding upon the techniques of vernalization and grafting. It took decades for the USSR to recover from this false science.
February 2, 2025
What is common sense to the common man is anathema to the Chancellor and our regularly absent PM.
Isn’t Starmer the Prime Minister of this country? It really does appear he thinks himself more of an EU Commissioner-in-waiting than our head of Government. Much like one Tony Blair, decades before him.
February 2, 2025
Dear Sir John, For more than 40 years, the Treasury has been the haunt of short-termism, asset stripping and “creative” accounting. If it had been in the private sector, its chairmen and chief executives should have spent much of that time in gaol. The Post Office has been a plaything for this malpractice.
After the separation of BT, the Post Office appeared to have a good future as the postal service, an innovative bank and the owner of important and valuable buildings in cities and big towns throughout the country. But what happened? In 1990 the Treasury flogged off Girobank (since disappeared) and, I believe, booked the proceeds as a cut in government spending. Then virtually all the valuable property was progressively flogged off to finance current spending. In 2013, the Treasury hived off the profitable Royal Mail and flogged it off in two tranches. It is now being taken over by a Czech billionaire. As part of the deal, the Treasury took over the historic Royal Mail Pension Fund and swiftly liquidated its assets to finance current spending, leaving future taxpayers to foot the pensions bill.
Hardly surprising then that the remaining wreck, a sort of unplanned franchise operation, is now a loss-making by-word for management scandal. No doubt the management will be replaced but the blame lies ultimately with the Treasury and its successive political masters.
Reply. On sale of Royal Mail by the state government guaranteed the pensions accrued to that date and took over the pension scheme . Royal Mail set up a new funded scheme for additional pension after purchase. The Post Office counters was a good business and needed developing in the years thereafter.
February 2, 2025
Reply to reply: Exactly Sir John, those historic accrued pensions are being paid from current and future taxation. All to window-dress the spending deficit that year. It will cost more too because the return on the pension fund portfolio was almost certainly higher than the gilt-edged interest saved. And I read that the Treasury is hoping to tap private pension funds to build Government-sponsored infrastucture. Trustees should remind it of the history of Eurotunnel. Sadly, the Treasury shares the Bob Maxwell approach to pension savings.
February 2, 2025
âWe pay hundreds of billions of dollars to subsidise Canada,â he wrote on Truth Social. Without this massive subsidy, Canada ceases to exist as a viable country. Harsh but true! Therefore, Canada should become our cherished 51st State. Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada â AND NO TARIFFS!â
In the UK under todayâs undemocratic Parliament and Government (they refuse to work with or listen to the people) you get the feeling that while not my or most peoples choice, as becoming a self governing Nation would still be first the favoured option, becoming the 51st State of the USA would mean we could breath again and be removed from the yoke of persecution by personal political ideology.
February 2, 2025
Dear Mr. Redwood,
@Ian B,
I must confess that I did not have the courage to broach the subject of the United Kingdom becoming a state of the USA. After President-elect Trump declared his desire to purchase Greenland, I could not help but feel a sneaking wish that if only it could be the UK. A desperate and forlorn hope, perhaps, but one borne out by the devious, cunning and mendacious nature of the politicians that we are forced to live under here in the UK.
If only we could be a fully self-governing nation, I would be happy, but I suppose that is as likely as the United Kingdom becoming the 51st state of the United States of America.
February 2, 2025
Some one that doesn’t understand
“Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has warned that Donald Trumpâs imposition of tariffs risks having a âreally damaging impactâ on the global economy.”
âWe want to reduce the barriers to trade, make it easier for businesses,â she told the BBCâs Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
The EU and the UK ( we the UK have remained under EU control on these things – Windsor Agreement for one) impose a 400% uplift on imports from the USA over and above the duties they apply to what they import from us.
To Yvette Cooper and this Government we have to ask why do you penalise the USA? Why did you think they would not seek parity and reciprocal respect? Why is this Government damaging the UK economy, making it expensive for UK commerce to exist – penalising UK Industry growth, penalising all the people can make this great country prosper. The only reason anyone is aware of is that instead of managing the UK this Government including Cooper want to impose there personal political ideology on the Country and its People before it(the Government) will do its job, they only job its been empowered and paid to do, and manage.
February 2, 2025
Watching the news today, I now realise that the EU deal for NI was just a working template for the rest of GB
February 2, 2025
You’re still talking to the hand Sir John.
February 2, 2025
47 criminals arrived in the UK yesterday; from the safe country of France âŠand it continues even with Coopers new laws !
February 2, 2025
GC :
They simply don’t care.
February 2, 2025
Marxists now rule us.
This is all fantasy stuff.
Anyway. European and British civilisation is falling. There are more important things to worry about than the economy.