Interest rates have been cut in the USA, Brazil, India, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Turkey, Russia and elsewhere. The USA , France and others have offered someĀ tax cuts. Italy is seeking to make the country more attractive to investors and entrepreneurs through tax changes. The Italians are pushing to be allowed some fiscal reflation to ease the pain of their adherence to Euro disciplines against a background of very weak growth and high unemployment.
The UK economy has performed very well considering the severe monetary and fiscal squeeze administeredĀ by the outgoing government. It is good to hear the new Prime Minister make clear his commitment to a prudent relaxation of the squeeze, with planned spending on police, schools, theĀ NHS, prisons, and infrastructure.Ā He should ensure tax policy is reviewed to make us internationally competitive and to maximise revenues around rates people are prepared to pay and which continue to attract talent, investment Ā and business to the UK.
The PM has pledged to accelerate the roll out of fibre to every home and business to increase capacity and line speeds. More and more business, learning and entertainment will be delivered by internet, so we need the capacity to compete and to handle the volumes of data and film, likely to be involved. We also need more to be spent onĀ roads to bust congestion, improve safety and reduce journey times. Road budgets were badly cut by the last Labour government and kept lowĀ by the Coalition.
The latest German figures show that the world manufacturing downturn in general and the bad hit to the car industry in particular have dragged the German economy into a quarter ofĀ negative growth, with poor prospects for the rest of this year. Italy was in recession last year in the second half, and remains very weak this year. The Eurozone as a whole is likely to avoid a recession but is widely forecast to record very slow growth. The internal logic of the debt and deficit rules and the inability to exploit the dugital revolution unleashed Ā by the USA will keep the overall Eurozone performance poor. Germany will still worry about the extent to which the whole zone is financed from German deposits of its surplus at the Central Bank for lending on to the deficit countries.
Now is the time for the UK to promote growth, more jobs and better incomes. New freeports, more development of the internet economy, and stronger global trading links with the faster growing parts of the world are all possible after October 31.The UK is better at Ā tec and services and well placed to be an important Ā global player.
August 17, 2019
The best possible boost to the economy would be to scrap the Climate Act right now, on the spot, and all the other insanites that inevitably flow from it such as the weird obsession of the political class with abolishing plant food (CO2). CO2 is an extremely rare trace gas in the atmosphere and the likelihood it has any effect on the climate is very small. In fact the only empirical evidence is that climate drives CO2, not the other way around. Would not saving at least a trillion pounds pointlessly squandered trying to cut CO2, probably a huge underestimate as well, be a boost to the economy? Energy prices in the UK are already much higher than the US and set to rise in the future because despite all the subsidies wind still isn’t making enough money for the rent seekers, as the Global Warming Policy Foundation has recently pointed out. If there is any one factor that is inseparably linked to economic growth it is the price of energy, and apparently the third world knows it. That is why they are building fossil fuel power stations fit to bust while we, who produce an utterly insignificant little more than 1% of mankind’s CO2 output, are shutting them down. Virtue signalling is not going to lead to an economic boom. Sound energy policy would.
https://www.thegwpf.org/british-public-faces-huge-electricity-price-rises-to-bail-out-wind-farms/
August 17, 2019
Agree totally Martin. Electricity prices are too high and the thought of everything being electric in the not too distant future makes me wonder how many more people will end up in fuel poverty. More people die from the cold than ever. Industry is becoming more uncompetitive but our governments listen to people like Greta and carry on blindly. I once read that for every job in the renewables sector three would be lost elsewhere. I don’t think that is going to boost the economy.
August 18, 2019
Martin: “Would not saving at least a trillion pounds pointlessly squandered trying to cut CO2, probably a huge underestimate as well, be a boost to the economy?”
It’s not pointless, if you are a ‘climate change’ researcher, at for example, the University of East Anglia ( or numerous other second tier Universities ) or a dogsbody in the UN who is allocating these funds to their squandering squads.
Or an NGO or some other quasi autonomous governmental body that the Tories were at one time ( before they saw the merit of using these organisations to employ their otherwise useless offspring ) in favour of abolishing.
So these squandered funds ( which are by the way borrowed from the children of our children ) are keeping the Political class well above the standard of lifestyle they could otherwise expect on Job seekers allowance.
August 19, 2019
Indeed scrap the absurd climate change act and all subsidies for ārenewable energyā, biofuels and electric cars.
August 17, 2019
Indeed restrictive and expensive bank lending (due to endless government regulation and lending/capital restrictions) is one of the most damaging things. I have turned down serveral sensible developments as the banks are too much hassle and too expensive or margins. Why has Javid not done anything yet?
Reported today:- House sellers to pay stamp duty under Sajid Javid tax shakeāup – no, no Javid, you silly man. Not more pathetic gimicks in the Hammond/Osborne/Brown mode. Sellers already pay it in effect as buyers reduce their purchase offers to reflect the tax they will pay ot completion. Turnover taxes on houses is hugely damaging even at the old 1% at up to 15% they are absurly damaging. Just scrap them. Even more damaging is the unsustainable double taxation of landlords and thus tenants (on profits they have not even made!). Double taxation as their interest cost are now being taxed then paid over to the bank and taxed again on the bank.
What Javid should be doing is undoing all the damage that Brown/Darling/Osborne and Hammond did to the tax and banking system. Nearly everthing they did in fact. We have the highest, most complex and idiotic taxes for 50 years. This on top of the bank lending restriction lunacy.
Javid had not impressed at all so far. Where is his low tax, economic growth vision? Does he not want to win the next election? It seems not.
August 17, 2019
Re the unaffordability of housing, there are over six hundred thousand empty homes, and a similar number of unbuilt planning permissions, we read. The developers also own an untold amount of brownfield pending applications, but would rather strangle supply, it appears.
Anyway, we have streets of houses for one pound each in Liverpool, in County Durham, and elsewhere. This would seem to prove that local market outlook, and not general UK population pressure, is the main determinant of property prices. If population were the prime reason for high residential property prices, then why did they fall sharply between 2008 and 2011, while it was still steadily growing, just as previously? And why has the average asking price just fallen again by twenty-five thousand pounds?
No, it is mainly land-banking, speculation, lax credit, and low interest rates, which are keeping the bubble generally inflated.
The largest single factor causing demand is divorce in any case, though population growth is, of course, also significant, I read.
August 18, 2019
What percentage of the total housing stock is 600,000?
Homes are empty for many innocent reasons.
Probate can take years.
Planning permission can take ages.
Finding a building company to do renovations can take ages.
Getting finance takes time.
In my experience one family member moved away from home with her job but did not want to rent her home out in case the job fell through.
Another friend had to act as carer to his elderly mother and moved in to her home a long way from his own home.
August 19, 2019
Exactly,
August 18, 2019
Martin, You sound like a Soviet Socialist planner with no practical experience.
August 18, 2019
Nick C
Maybe he does, but he’s basically right in what he infers.
August 18, 2019
Steve
No he isn’t he’s talking drivel
August 18, 2019
When did you last read what one of those had written, Nick?
August 18, 2019
Martin, My main sources include Solzhenitsin, Sakharov, Walesa, Bukovsky, Conquest, Ascherson, various Samizdat literature, and many others.
Finally, but not least, I learnt from my Polish father in law who escaped Katyn and was a guest of Stalin for two years in Siberia until released into the British army by Churchill’s negotiations. And of course all his comrades. He, and my future wife, returned to communist Poland often – after he became a naturalised UK citizen – so keeping up to date with the idiocies of Soviet planning.
My wife, who though born in the UK has no British ancestry whatsoever, stood as a candidate for UKIP some years ago. She was asked by the BBC “Why do you hate Europeans?”
Martin, you are as bigoted as the BBC. You trot out your false and facile Remain propaganda without any idea to whom you are talking, in total ignorance of their backgrounds, and bereft of historical context. Your pomposity and arrogance is astounding.
August 18, 2019
MiC
Lol you were yesterday whining about FTTP infringing property rights and now youre moaning about what people do with their own property . Most empty property is for a variety of reasons, awaiting renovation, being away on work assignment and the government making letting a prohibitive exercise , probate , waiting for a buyer having moved into a care home etc etc etc .
As to land banking this is a TOTAL MYTH another meme you believe Martin
In reality, most housebuilders want to turn sites around as quickly as possible in order to maximise profits. Land banking is simply not profitable. It is a myth that just wonāt be debunked. As a concept it was explored and dismissed within the Kate Barkerās seminal housing review back in 2004 and again in the Callcutt review in 2007.
Most consents are already issued with a condition requiring works to commence within three years from date of grant otherwise the permission is ālostā. It used to be that developers could apply for time extensions but changes in legislation stopped this practice.
The reason that houses dont get built is far more prosiac There isn’t anyone to build them .
There are 840,000 unfilled jobs in the UK and 37% of them are in construction
Meanwhile our idiot politicians keep passing legislation on behalf of HMRC that kills whole industries. Not content with CIS cards, IR35, H&S legislation ( makes it difficult to bring apprentices on site) this idiot “conservative” government is now bringing in reverse VAT which has a huge impact on construction industry .
The issue is as with so many things supply and demand the high demand and therefore lower supply and more expensive homes are in South East . Cheaper homes are available across the rest of the country and less than 10% of England is built on. However the range of jobs and opportunities isn’t as abundant in the rest of UK as it is in the South East . Where there are jobs Manchester, Birmingham, leeds then house prices are higher
August 18, 2019
Libertarian, A tour de force, well said.
August 19, 2019
Exactly.
August 17, 2019
Also sellers are also buyers on most house sales.
The might stop people moving, cutting off suply.
When buyers pay the tax or seller Stamp Duty is a very unfair tax
August 19, 2019
Turnover taxes are very damaging to the economy. Stamp duty on houses at up to 15% is absurdly damaging to the economy and indeed to tax receipts.
August 17, 2019
The PM has pledged to accelerate the roll out of fibre to every home. That
ought to get the country moving.
August 17, 2019
As the industry has pointed, out the getting of the necessary property rights for access to land means that the process will take considerably longer than Alexander Johnson has claimed.
The alternative would be a statutory weakening of the tenures of every freeholder in the land.
It is unclear, the pressures or inducements which would be exerted upon or offered to private enterprise too, to cause them to operate in a way which departed from their existing business plans.
But let us hope that progress can be made.
August 17, 2019
@MiC; The utility companies already have many of the rights they say they need and have had for years…
The bleating from the Telecoms industry is a joint attempt to block this policy initiative I suspect, for one it is likely to be very expensive (unless fully funded by HMT), for others it could well mean their customer base evaporates if Boris really does mean FTTP and a 99% coverage!
August 17, 2019
Martin in Cardiff: ” As the industry has pointed, out the getting of the necessary property rights for access to land means that the process will take considerably longer than Alexander Johnson has claimed.”
The industry are being deceptive. Openreach, for example, may exercise powers under Sec 16 of the 2003 Telecommunications Act and if necessary, they can enforce those powers in a court of law.
August 17, 2019
MiC
Really? You read this on the BBC website where ONE “expert” said they need reform in way leave rights
Seeing as they already provide both underground and pole based lines into homes, one wonders how they managed that .
I would also assume that they aren’t intending to cable every home, only those that want it, so there really isn’t a problem . Most other countries manage it . The monopoly provider of lines ( theres only one Martin BT Openreach) unless you live in a virgin cable urban area in which case you already have access to FTTP has a business plan to do this. Boris has just called it forward
What is it with Remainers and their timorous fearful doomsday chicken little approach to everything . No wonder you need nanny’s EU safety blanket
August 17, 2019
The existing statutory powers are contestable, and the companies may have to pay compensation.
The procedures also take time.
That is one reason why progress is relatively slow to date.
However, I do not see a Conservative government further weakening people’s titles to their private property.
Would you prefer that they did?
August 17, 2019
Martin in Cardiff: “The existing statutory powers are contestable .. ”
But they exist. And can be used. But your complaint is that the utility company has to seek the owners permission before it can lay service.
To me that seems reasonable.
Martin in Cardiff: ” and the companies may have to pay compensation.”
As they should.
August 18, 2019
No, that is not a complaint on my part, it is a statement of fact.
What it means is that Alexander Johnson’s pledge is probably unrealistic, unfortunately.
August 18, 2019
@MiC; Not for repair, replacement, up-grade work, permissions were granted when the services were originally laid in, FTTP will be mostly replacement for copper, not new work!
August 18, 2019
MiC
Try thinking this through
You are assuming that BT has been ordered to put a fibre into every home . WHETHER THEY WANT IT OR NOT
They clearly haven’t. Why would you order FTTP then stop them installing it?
This is typical of socialists and their non reality based thinking
August 18, 2019
No, I’m not assuming anything.
It is you who is apparently assuming things about me.
Isn’t it?
August 17, 2019
It is a pity that BT hasn’t shifted its rear to do so before. I live in a small village that has been considered financially unviable (like many). Now we have a private company putting fibre through; unfortunately it’s quite a lot more expensive than my current ISP would charge me if I was having fibre through them (via the BT infrastructure). Being on an OAP fixed income now, I don’t like the idea of being locked into a deal where I have no alternative choices, which is the case in my area; so I’m staying on ADSL.
August 17, 2019
Sadly Chris, you are a victim of laissez faire, neoliberal Conservative ideology. Profit before people. If you want universal internet speeds at universal prices, you need to vote for a government that considers such a facility to be a “public good”, that increases the aggregate productivity and hence GDP, of the whole nation.
August 18, 2019
Acorn, Most people in the world, given the choice, want to be one of your so-called “victims” of laissez faire capitalism.
August 18, 2019
@NickC; Untrue, most people in the world would prefer a mixed economy. There are very few totally Capitalist economies in the world, even the USA is mixed to some extent.
August 18, 2019
Jerry
Yes but you cant have a mixed economy without capitalism
August 18, 2019
Jerry, I was answering Acorn’s whinge about how terrible capitalist economies were. That means I was using his implied definition of capitalism, not yours.
The USA may not be a “totally” capitalist economy, but it is commonly considered to be the exemplar of capitalism. Insofar as the description fits, an awful lot of people would love to emigrate to the USA.
August 18, 2019
acorn
laissez fair capitalism is responsible for the greatest benefit ever seen to mankind , it has alleviated famine ( except in war zones) increased mortality , health, wellbeing and longevity across the planet in just the last 100 years after 300,000 years of existence living
Meanwhile socialism killed 100 million people
What I love about socialists is their arguments are all made up myths. Profit before people lol. If you had ever run a business you would know how dumb that statement is. Anyway acorn have you found out the difference between South Koreans and the French yet?
August 17, 2019
@Kevin
Nice play on words, but some of us are already regular
August 17, 2019
Fibre may not be (indeed is not) the right solution for many locations. Top down government knows best yet again. Why should people in some places subsidise others in remote locations anyway.
August 18, 2019
@LL; Could you please give a circumstance were Fibre would not be the right solution, given that the idea is to replace an existing copper service?
You do also realise that copper lines are actually high maintenance compared to fibre, especially those underground, whilst one duplex fibre can replace multiple copper lines even with multiplexing.
Also why should those in more remote areas subsidies town and city dwellers, surely those in urban areas should have had to pay the true full cost of laying in totally new fibre services too? Quid pro quo perhaps…
August 18, 2019
Wireless 5g or satellite can be more suitable for some remote locations.
August 18, 2019
@LL; Satellite might be viable if you only need to download perhaps, not a lot of use to upload your tax return of DERFA forms etc. As I understand it, from people who have used such services, it is a very asymmetrical service, very good end-user download speeds, applauding upload speeds. Also weather can play havoc, just as it can with DVB-S TV services.
As for 5g, for the foreseeable future that telecons system likely to be more use to City dwellers than those in remote hamlets.
August 17, 2019
It’s ok Kevin – I got the joke.
August 17, 2019
Kevin
Ha ha very good
August 17, 2019
Good thing there’s still ‘U’ Tube then.
August 17, 2019
Good morning.
But, but, but isn’t Germany part of the EU and, without the EU countries would face economic ruin ? Well that’s what the Vichy Remainers like us to think.
As I keep banging on about – All eyes on Germany. If Germany cannot meet the EU’s bills then something has to give. Either others, like Ireland, give more and / or, others receive less. Not good news for the Zombie economies like Poland who which only looks good due to the large amount of cash it receives.
There has never been a better time to negotiate a FTA with the EU. If German and other EU members see their trade diminish even further their position will be even weaker. No FTA and the threat of high tariffs with strong competition from elsewhere could very well be the straw that breaks the camels back. Let’s hope so.
August 17, 2019
You seem to be confusing Germany’s surplus at the ECB with the European Union’s budget.
Lending money is not meeting the borrower’s bills.
The European Union institutions cannot borrow on the other hand, and so EU budgetary projects are not financed by debt.
August 17, 2019
I believe the solution to the EU woes will be to announce they can borrow, after all they earn a salary and will insist borrowings will be paid off by their investments.
The ECB is currently buying billions worth of junk bonds so this seems no lesss reckless.
August 17, 2019
correct, the contributors have to pay more!
August 18, 2019
Martin, No, it’s you who is confused. Mark B did not mention the German Target2 surplus.
August 18, 2019
John Redwood did, and it appears that Mark has probably misunderstood that.
Stay on topic, Nick.
August 18, 2019
Martin, You said “you” referring to Mark B. And Mark B was discussing Germany being the main paymaster for the EU budget after the UK has left. He did not mention Target2, and neither of you referred to JR’s notes on it.
Please keep up, Martin.
August 17, 2019
Well said, Mark B. Everything is falling into place for Brexit. The economy of the main EU/Euro beneficiary, ie. Germany, is looking distinctly dodgy. The US (and others) offering fair trade deals without the baggage of controlling our trade with other countries, annual payments, supremacy of their law over UK law etc. The EU (and UK Remainers) cannot suppress democracy forever, not without civil war occurring.
August 17, 2019
If UK food standards are lowered to the same as the US’s, then the European Union, our biggest external agricultural market, will not buy UK products.
That is exactly what the US is demanding, so that would affect our ability to trade with others.
August 18, 2019
Why would the UK alter its food standards?
August 18, 2019
Martin, Haven’t you already told us that the EU won’t let in our food exports because they won’t comply after Brexit? So why your concern over standards for non-existent exports? As it is USA food standards are higher than the EU’s. Even the UK’s food standards are higher than the EU’s.
August 18, 2019
No, I didn’t say that.
The UK is free at present to agree a deal which means that its standards would still comply.
I note that many of the most zealously anti-European Union posters also seem to be US supremacists, and in that sense, globalists.
Are you American?
August 18, 2019
The usual slur.
Such a clichƩ Martin.
August 18, 2019
Fair enough, I should have specified on the specific points where the European Union is dissatisfied with US standards, and not implied across the board.
Whatever, they are at present incompatible, so if the UK harmonised with the US, then it would become incompatible with the European Union’s.
What would UK farmers do about losing their largest external market and competing with cheap US imports?
August 18, 2019
Martin, It is you who maintains that the UK cannot be independent, not me. Given your fear about our survival outside a large bloc, it would make sense, and be less blinkered, to look at alternatives to the EU. The USA is one such.
The UK is not “free at present to agree a deal” for trading of foods or anything else, because the EU has refused to negotiate a trade deal with us until we have left.
August 18, 2019
Martin in Cardiff
Give up son… you are deluded
US food safety standards are FAR HIGHER than EU standards.
The one thing that sends EU fanboy’s into a dither is chlorinated chicken
1) The EU banned Chlorinated chicken simply because they felt that abattoir’s would rely on chlorine rather than keeping their premises clean ( The EU has massive salmonella problems, the US doesn’t)
2) EU salad is chlorine washed
3) In the UK we add 0.5 mg per litre to tap water ( higher if pipes need cleaning)
Your thinking is awry again
UK standards are higher than the EU
We can export food to the EU
We can export food to the US
We can import food from the EU as long as it reaches our minimum standard
We can can import food from USA as long as it reaches our standards
What you remainers completely miss at all times is that international exporting requires the producer to produce goods pertaining to market standards all over the world .
No one is anti European ( Europe is a continent of 54 counties and we are European)
We are anti the EU which ISNT A PLACE its a collection of old corrupt white people who impose their will on 500,000 million people without asking them
We aren’t USA supremacists . The USA is an anglo country with a shared culture and legal framework its our biggest market and we work closely together as we do and will with other countries around the world
August 18, 2019
correction
500 million
August 17, 2019
I’d like to thank Pominoz for the link to “briefingsforbrexit” yesterday.
David Blake’s briefing on “Target2” was very chilling: how many Germans know what’s going on there, I wonder, as they are generally very prudent in personal expenditure , I can’t imagine them being very happy to pay for German goods and services enjoyed on the “never,never”.
His article on how UK savers would pay for the Eurozone fiasco via a transaction tax even after leaving (a May legacy) was a chilling read but then, hardly surprising, Merkel seems to have a knack of expecting other countries to pick up the bill for her mistakes which I why we must get out of the EU asap.
Maybe we do need a financial boost but having watched decades of Labour overspend followed by Tories being the “nasty” party by trying to balance the books, I’ll admit that I’m wary about spending sprees.
I’m also cynical that the money will be spent as intended: it’s clear now that cutting police budget was a false move (ditto our armed forces) but can the government guarantee that we will get 20,000 officer on patrol where they are needed and that just as importantly they will allowed to do a proper job without the chains of political correctness which have created “no go” areas and crimes.
August 17, 2019
I donāt want a FTA with the EU. They will have to pay Ā£13 billion more than we pay them, for access to our market. With that surplus we can fund our exporters with EU funds so they enjoy ātariff freeā exports to the EU but the EU will have to drop prices or U.K. market share.
In one fell swoop we are Ā£26 billion better off in respect of the EU (because we stop paying them Ā£13 billion pa to govern us!)
August 17, 2019
@Mark B: Germany is only part of the EU and doesn’t dictate the way you may think. E.g. the (smaller) Netherlands is still doing well in comparison (2% annual growth, 0.50% QoQ.
Of course an FTA will be possible, but the issues required for an orderly withdrawal will still have to be settled first, be it before or after 31-10-2019.
August 18, 2019
PvL, Going to straight to only WTO rules for trade with the EU27 is perfectly “orderly” – though it may not be “ordered” by the EU, which is what I suspect you really mean. But then we don’t like your nasty little experiment in dirigisme.
August 18, 2019
PvL
There are ONLY two countries that matter in the EU. Germany and France. You either cannot or refuse to see it, but it is true. It is the biggest member country and the biggest contributor to the EU. Without it the EU Project will fail.
August 18, 2019
@Mark B: Understandable British oversimplification. France and Germany constitute some 35% of the EU and are indeed indispensable, but by themselves not enough.
August 18, 2019
Mark B … yep…..industry, agriculture, scientists, patents, vision, population, will to rule others. Look no further.
August 17, 2019
If I was a suspicious sort of chap I might start to wonder if John Redwood expects Brexit to have a recessionary impact. Only in the mind of a geranium twirling moon dancing loon are interest rates currently tight or 85% National Debt a “fiscal squeeze” especially after the last quarter.
Or
“Yes yes quite right ..need a boost.. good old Sir John..” said Poo , who was a bear of little brain
Reply There are deflationary forces at work in the world economy and current UK policy within the EU has led to negative growth last quarter
August 17, 2019
@Newmania; Read up about current concerns in the USA regarding Yield Curves (on Govt Bond markets), nothing what so ever to do with Brexit. If correct it could be the first sign of an upcoming world-wide economic slowdown.
Not everything is the fault of Brexit, how ever much europhiles wish they were (nor even the US-China trade spat)!
August 17, 2019
I’m afraid I was thinking that too. Except I don’t think it’s Brexit that is going to cause the global recession.
London going *pop* might well turn that into a global DEpression.
August 17, 2019
JR: “There are deflationary forces at work in the world economy .. ”
The bad investments made under the low interest rate and high inflationary regime of the last three decades are being exposed, and the realisation that much debt can never be repaid is now starting to dawn.
So, dropping interest rates by 1/2 percent to 1/4 percent, is going to magically fix everything.
By the way, if we are to believe your lie that 3% inflation is good, why isn’t 3% deflation good?
August 17, 2019
Newmania – a remoaner
Never a comment without a clumsy and ill-bred attempt to give offence.
August 17, 2019
Newmania
Time for a quick review
Newmania told us the city would be moving to Frankfurt , Brussels and Paris there would be 1,000’s of job losses
Newmania told us that Brexit meant taking away his fundamental right to work anywhere in the EU
Newmania told us that Brexit and the ending of passporting would damage the insurance industry
Newmania and the firm he works for according to him have spent 2 years failing to find a way to continue writing insurance business in the EU
So conclusion
Newmania works in finance, loves working in the EU says all the jobs are going from there YET he’s still here !!! What to make of that ? Either all of his colleagues have been moved and they just didn’t need Newmanias “skills” OR Newmania is talking through his backside
ps the economic situation in EU is far worse than here, some “experts” forecast a global slow down .
pps Dear……. newmania interest rates are very very tight if youre a saver
August 17, 2019
Libertarian – Since joining the EU the UK has generally out performed its equivalents ( France / Germany), prior to joining the EU the reverse was very much the case.
Clearly you draw rather different conclusions form this fact that I do .
The wrong ones
Your point on interest rates is right are you aware you have just agreed with me ?
I think it highly likely that the rate of global growth will slow. Not a good time to do the stupidest thing any developed country has ever done to itself then.
August 18, 2019
Newmania, The stupidest thing would be to give up the opportunities of Brexit.
Your claim that the UK has done better generally than Germany and France in the EU, is not the endorsement of the EU that you think it is.
The graph of the increase in UK GDP since 1949 – https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/timeseries/ihyp/pn2 – shows better growth before we joined the EEC (EU).
August 18, 2019
Nick
From 1958 to 1973, GDP per capita rose 95 % in France Germany and Italy, but only 50 per cent here. Since 73, GDP per head has grown faster in the UK than our neighbours ( source FT) . We have been the highest recipient of inward EU investment ( UN Study) which has been useful for building our new motor industry, creating jobs, that sort of thingā¦ā¦..
End of ; now do please stop bothering the grown ups
August 18, 2019
Newmanis, If you looked at the graph in the link I gave to the ONS you can clearly see that UK GDP growth was better before we joined the EEC (EU) than after, in general. End of; now do please stop hand waving.
August 18, 2019
New Maniac . . . I think determination to rebuild, and the international finance to enable it had a little to do with it.
August 18, 2019
Newmania
In 1972 the year BEFORE we joined the EEC the UK was the THIRD largest economy in the world our GDP grew 3.8% over 1971
We joined January 1973 by 1974 we were labeled the sick man of europe and in 75/6 we had to call in the IMF .
These are verifiable facts
You haven’t answered me as to why YOUR job hasn’t been moved to Frankfurt as you told us it would
August 17, 2019
Can the relious dopes on the remainer/alarmist/green loon wing of politics not understand that making the entirely true statement that:- “yachting accidents do happen in Augustā is not suggesting they want the Greta and her crew to have one? I very much hope she and the many crew enjoys her sailing trip & PR stunt and comes to no harm. But it does seem to me that she is being used by others. Will the crew be flying back I wonder?
I pointed out to someone yesterday that transport in a multi-million pound racing yacht will in fact (all things considered over the life of the yacht or jumbo jet) use far, far more energy than an economy one seat in a jumbo jet. The woman went totally round the bend. It clearly is a religion to these people. Soon there will be hate laws against stating the truth on this subject – so as not to offend these unscientific loons.
The new Messiah must not be insulted in any way it seems. Even by pointing out basic realities and truths.
August 17, 2019
Needless to say the halfwitted people on Newsnight found someone to support Greta and call the perfectly true and reasonable comment made (see above) ādespicableā. It seems we cannot criticise the bogus science she is pushing – as she is 16 and disabled. The poor girl is being used by the green religion. Is this child abuse perhaps?
The daft presenter even thought that Ken Clarke was ālikely to appeal to the average Telegraph Readerā! No, no, never please. He is one of the many who have nearly destroyed the party over many years. Doubtless he was a fan of the ERM, the EURO, John Major, the EU Constitution, the destruction of UK democracy, the ever increasing taxation and regulation …..
August 17, 2019
I understand a crew of five is flying out to bring the yacht back.
August 18, 2019
LL – – -on the DT – circulation at 360k, falling annually last 10 years says it all. Not a lot of support for KC there then!
August 17, 2019
https://order-order.com/2019/08/16/gretas-titanic-hypocrisy/
“UPDATE: It transpires that the five people bringing the boat back from NYC will first fly over to the States, meaning in total Gretaās PR trip will end up creating six times the emissions it would have done if sheād just flown over to begin with ā¦”
August 17, 2019
@Lifelogic; Over reaction no both side, a pointless & crass comment to make in the first place [1], how ever true, a pointless complaint about it after.
I’m more concerned that no one is pointing out how non-carbon neutral building a modern racing yacht is, and what of the necessary protective specialist clothing etc, yes it can all be ‘off-set’ but then so can flying, driving a 1970s super-car etc, eating meat etc! Assuming you believe in the AGW mumbo-jumbo. of course…
[1] why not make the same comment about those partaking in “Cowes Week”, after all accidents do happen?
August 17, 2019
The Greenist faction in our family went on a ‘carbon neutral’ holiday to the Azores last week. They flew there, of course.
My camping trip to a field thirty miles away wasn’t considered green enough. Meghan and Harry tell me I must cut back.
August 17, 2019
Indeed did they do this from their private jet?
August 17, 2019
I wonder what you would have said, if someone of a different political persuasion, in response to the news that Air Force One was in the air, had said “planes sometimes crash”?
August 17, 2019
I would have said, ” indeed they do but not very often at all”.
August 17, 2019
Of course you would.
What is your view on the assault, suffered by Owen Jones recently?
August 18, 2019
Martin …any assault is disgraceful, we have to hope the numbers of police and the determination to convict succeeds.
August 17, 2019
Martin, why are you making such a fuss? Attention seeking like Andy. Dear, dear.
August 18, 2019
Martin, Don’t be so precious. A small yacht in the Atlantic even in August is far more dangerous than flying in a modern jumbo jet. Saying so is a sensible warning.
August 17, 2019
The outrageous thing is that a child with issues is being manipulated by others with their own agenda. Why aren’t her parents protecting her? Their own agenda, perhaps?
August 17, 2019
Indeed.
August 17, 2019
Ken Clarke and Harriet Harman! What a depressing thought. Let us hope Boris can deliver and keep the traitors to the UK and Corbyn well away from any levers of power.
August 17, 2019
You define anyone who does not want outright hostility, towards arguably the twenty-seven most civilised, enlightened, peaceable, lawful, and friendly nations on the planet as a “traitor” it would appear.
I suggest that you consult a dictionary. There are some good ones on line.
August 17, 2019
Those whose primary loyalty is to the EU when it should be to the UK:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2019/08/16/no-to-a-corbyn-led-government-of-national-disunity-and-unreliability/#comment-1046178
On March 5th 2008 when invited to vote for an amendment to affirm and defend the supremacy of the UK Parliament against possible attack from Declaration 17 attached to the Lisbon Treaty only 50 MPs voted for it – including the two tellers – while 382 voted against it.
In fact most of the Tory MPs were not even there to have the chance to vote for it, because David Cameron had taken the advice of Dominic Grieve and had them sent home:
http://ebooksfromblogs.weebly.com/uploads/1/5/5/7/1557501/ben_brogan.pdf
“Cameron hit by massive rebellion
No, I didn’t notice either, but according to researchers at Nottingham University (aka Phil Cowley) it’s the worst revolt against the Tory leader’s authority since he took office. It happened last night in the divisions on the EU Treaty. While all eyes were on the tragi-comic silliness of the Lib Dems, few spotted the vote on New Clause 9, proposed by Bill Cash, which would prevent changes in the Treaty being used in British courts to challenge the supremacy of Parliament. Mr Cameron asked his troops to abstain, but 40 ignored him and voted in favour, including 12 from the new intake.
Proportionately that’s as big a revolt as the one suffered by Nick Clegg. It’s also the largest revolt in numerical terms of the Treaty’s parliamentary passage so far. More useful analysis of last night’s results at Revolts.
UPDATE: A robustly euro-sceptic MP has just shown me the text messages he received from the Chief Whip’s office yesterday evening. The first, at 19.17, gave Tory MPs a green-light to go home by telling them there would be “no further official votes”. The division on Mr Cash’s clause was called seven minutes later, at 19.24.”
And that was not the only occasion when it became obvious that the great majority of parliamentarians across both houses saw their primary loyalty as being to the EU, despite having taken the Oath of Allegiance.
I note the name of our host among the 50 honourable MPs who showed their genuine loyalty to the UK and its Parliament in that division, not the hypocritical faux loyalty being presented by Remoaners who previously did not give two hoots for the sovereignty of our national Parliament.
August 17, 2019
You miss the point Martin. The hostility is all directed at the EU and those who would keep us shackled to it against the wishes of the UK electorate expressed in the referendum of 2016. It is in no way hostility towards the people of the 27 member states. You are a bit OTT as to their enlightenment, that is slowly growing, but I voted with my feet some12 years ago and live amongst them. You will be pleased to note that I still visit my dentist in Cardiff, an equally enjoyable experience.
August 17, 2019
Exactly.
August 17, 2019
Martin – could you find a substitute for that word please ? I dislike it too.
August 17, 2019
Traitor – a person who is not loyal or stops being loyal to their own country
In this context someone who want to destroy UK democracy, defeat the clearly expressed will of the people and whose actions currently undermine the negotiations and deter the EU from offering a sensible trade deal.
Traitors and enemies of the people is exactly right. Most even stood (and were elected) on manifestos promising to deliver Brexit. May’s W/A is nothing like Brexit.
August 17, 2019
@LL; That ‘definition’ means all those who criticised or wished to block the democratically elected Blair/Brown govts must also have been “Traitors” too….!
August 18, 2019
Jerry, Not so. England developed the concept of HM’s “loyal opposition” for a reason. It enables opposition to, and criticism of, the government of the day.
However, preventing the implementation of the Referendum (given to the people by Parliament, remember) is altogether different – it destroys the actuality of democracy and undermines trust in the fairness of the political contract between the governed and the governing.
August 18, 2019
@NickC; You really do not understand how our system of parliamentary democracy works, especially as there has been an ill-advised General Election since the Brexit referendum.
No future parliament can be held hostage to any previous decision.
If that is not true then calling for the very referendum you cite must have been “Treasonous” -as it went against a previous & very explicit instruction from the people, the 2016 result must be null & void, the people having already made a once only decision on our membership back in 1975 [1]; all the 1980s era anti trade union laws are void; the 1980s era Right-to-Buy legislation is too as the people had previously decided that there should be LA Council Housing, same with all the de-nationalisations – especially those nationalisation schemes that gained an explicit manifesto mandate, such as in 1945 for example.
By your definition of “Treason” Mrs T must have committed treason in just putting forward her ideas, never mind trying to persuade parliament to vote against the govt in the mid to late ’70s, the people had chosen a Socialist govt in 1974 [2], that should have been that, no decent allowed until the next scheduled GE in late 1979… Absurdness on stilts!
[1] and yes the EEC was the same beast as the EU is today, go read the Treaty of Rome, the EEC morphed into the EU, the Euro and even calls for a EU army are all as the likes of Benn and Powell warned back in the 1970s
[2] with a clear four seat majority, at the time, no coalition or confidence-and-supply agreement needed to form a govt
August 18, 2019
Nick C – – well argued, totally agree.
August 18, 2019
Yes, Nick, and that is why Parliament as a whole is not seeking to prevent the UK’s exit from the European Union.
It is only trying to avert an apparently significant risk of social and economic catastrophe.
That is patriotism.
The common criminals who make threats against MPs, or who threaten civil disorder are simply that, on the other hand.
August 18, 2019
Martin, we are not fools and you should not treat us as such. The referendum votes had barely been counted before the efforts to overturn the result started. Not to ensure the implementation of the result would be the least damaging or the most beneficial, but just to overturn the result altogether.
August 18, 2019
Jerry, I suspect it is you who does not understand how democracy works, especially direct democracy. The Referendum vote of 2016 is not susceptible to the “no parliament may bind its successor” rule (which you vaguely allude to), because it was not a decision made by Parliament. The people voted to Leave.
After Leave has been implemented into law and the UK is no longer in the EU treaties, or subject to the EU, then a future UK Parliament may apply to re-join. Such an action would have to be a manifesto commitment by a new incoming government, at the very least.
In the meantime, since the people, not Parliament, made the decision to Leave, I believe it is fair to describe politicians or civil servants who are colluding, or collaborating, with the foreign EU empire to defeat our democratic decision, as being treasonous.
August 20, 2019
@NickC; No it is you who who does not understand how democracy works
What of the 1975 referendum, after all the people voted to remain, does that not make the 2016 referendum an act of Treason under your logic, after all the people instructed parliament in 1975…
Many Brexiteers on here bleat about Remainers and the MSM forgetting inconvenient facts and truths (the TIR customs convention for example, or the requirements of being a member of Interpol), but many a Brexiteer also has a habit of forgetting inconvenient facts and truths too – especially when it comes to the very democracy they demand be returned back to the UK parliament.
Also, in case you have forgotten, the 2016 ref was about Leaving “the European Union”, not how we leave, after all Norway is not a Member of “the European Union” -why do I put that is quotes, because that is what was actually asked on the ballot paper, no mention of leaving any Customs Union what so ever, and many who campaigned for a Leave result wanted to remain in a/the CU.
August 17, 2019
Your view of the EU is confused with your view of its constituent member states. The nation states that make up the EU may be everything you claim, although I find it a triffle unquestioning and adoring myself, but the EU is not.
Ask African nations whose economies are destroyed by EU surplus dumping, refugees who are blocked from coming by the hordes of economic migrants seeking to bypass normal immigration with the connivance of the EU, or any developing country limited to selling its raw materials at low margins to EU companies for “value-add” processing into high profit margin consumer products.
The EU is a protectionist scam masquerading as a free trade zone, and it does not have a generally positive impact in the world.
August 17, 2019
Incoming migration to European Union countries from non-EU ones is a sovereign matter for those countries.
There is no EU immigration policy.
There is freedom of movement for all European Union citizens between all parts of the EU. You can call that immigration of you wish.
August 18, 2019
Oh yes there is such a thing as an EU immigration policy.
Any member nation which makes a person an EU citizen controls all member nations’ borders, in effect.
August 18, 2019
Martin …..’Incoming migration to European Union countries from non-EU ones is a sovereign matter for those countries.’
Until Merkel tells them what she wants.
August 17, 2019
@Martin in Cardiff; Duh! 20th century history is not your strong point it would seem….
August 17, 2019
On balance, I am inclined to agree with Lifelogic. I would like the UK to trade with the EU 27 and be on friendly terms with them. I buy a lot of their goods. My dishwasher is German, I drive a German BMW, I own a German rifle, and even my doctor is German. But being governed by them is a different ball-game.
It is wholly unnecessary for the UK to belong to their constrictive sclerotic undemocratic political construct, and I seriously doubt the intentions of people in the UK who surreptitiously work towards keeping us in. Their motives are at best questionable, so I’m inclined to agree with the term ‘traitor’ in this context as supported by any number of dictionaries.
August 17, 2019
Exactly.
August 17, 2019
And here’s an associated noun you might find in a dictionary, MinC:
Treason.
”There is a name for appealing over the head of the Crown to an authority outside the realm, and that name is treason.”
So, yes. The word ”traitor” is apt. This has nothing to do with sabre rattling. Your use of the word ”arguably” is telling. Plenty of people would argue with your hyperbole where the ’27’ are concerned.
August 17, 2019
Remember it’s silly season. I don’t think Corbyn will support a Tory after all it’s a power grab by Labour nothing to do with Brexit.
Corbyn gets in, declares an emergency and starts nationalising on an epic scale, a confiscatory budget and a Sterling crisis. What’s not to like.
August 17, 2019
And how would he get that lot through our sovereign Parliament, as a minority government?
August 17, 2019
BBC radio 4 giving the misguided Oliver Letwin top billing today. Not much doubt where the BBC stands in the establishment and many politician’s war against the people.
Pay your BBC licence tax (or go to prison) and the BBC will then use your money to try to brain wash you. To teach you how to think in the mad BBC’s left wing, PC, big government, climate alarmist, tax and regulate to death, diversity rules, pro EU, anti-democratic, green crap pushing way.
August 17, 2019
Well said!
August 17, 2019
Brilliant post L/L.
August 17, 2019
I think large numbers of poor pension OAPs will consider not paying the TV licence if it gets them into a warm cell, colour tv (is it SKY?), 3 meals a day, library service, table tennis, badminton? Better than suffering in this next cold winter.
August 17, 2019
Lifelogic
“Ken Clarke”
……speaking of which, this ‘individual’ for want of a more accurate description, is quoted in the press as proclaiming he would be PM and stop no deal.
What that translates to is that he would delight in weakening this country’s position, and to such an extent that we’d be eaten alive by the EU.
Given the fact that this ‘person’ arrogantly said the referendum should have been ignored, obviously he is a serious threat to national security and should be removed from office with immediate effect.
Why the hell traitors like him ever got allowed into Parliament just beggars belief.
Even so I don’t think he should be getting any pay as a civil servant, firstly what he wants to do to our country isn’t very civil at all, secondly he isn’t serving us.
Same for the rest……It’s about time current and prospective MP’s were screened and vetted, any inclination to act arrogantly, do this country down, conflict of interest, conspire or act to lick the boots of foreign powers should bar them from holding any publicly funded office – for life.
August 17, 2019
Free ports are an excellent method for evading tax and laundering money.
And we wonder why some uber-wealthy Tories are so keen on them!
Perhaps these politicians and their rich friends are bored of the Channel Islands, Isle of Mann and Caribbean?
And, remember, every bit of tax they evade is an operation cancelled for you or your family, and extended wait for a GP, no social care, potholed roads, a school class of 35 etc etc etc.
Still – the ultra rich need that new yacht, that chateau, that extra penthouse or private jet.
Reply The aim is to have successful rich people here who pay our taxes instead of being based somewhere else. The rich pay the lions share of the Income tax as they should
August 17, 2019
Indeed Brown, Osborne and Hammondās attacks on Non Doms, property taxation and pensions have been hugely damaging to the country, the economy and indeed to tax receipts.
The fact is that governments spend money far, far less efficiently than businesses and people do. Taxation at the 50 year high levels we currently have is hugely damaging and totally uncompetitive. There is endless waste in government all over the place tackle that first and get out of the dire state monopolies in Heath and education. Give people freedom to spend their own money and incentives to earn it. Freedom and choice please.
August 17, 2019
When governments and councils are forced, by Hayek-inspired doctrine, to spend money on the private sector, the latter know that it is a licence for them to print money.
Nor do they offer even passable service in return, let alone value.
See etc
August 18, 2019
Martin, Whose money do you think it is?
August 17, 2019
Andy
Oh dear oh dear, still got that chip eh ?
You just don’t see it do you.
It is because of the rich that people have jobs, and you get your benefits. I wouldn’t complain if I were you.
August 17, 2019
Nonsense comment. More revenues than ever come from the rich. Of course free ports are an excellent idea. If they work out maybe we should turn the whole Country into a free port. Turning the whole of NI into a Freeport would seem to me to offer a good solution to the contrived issue of the Irish border
August 17, 2019
Dear Mr. Redwood,
@Andy,
You forget, rather conveniently, that there are also some 80 freeports scattered across your beloved EU. I presume these don’t count in your book although I am sure the EU would like to get rid of them – to harmonise so to speak.
Have you ever heard of the fictional cartoon character Andy Capp? etc ed
August 17, 2019
@Andy; “Free ports are an excellent method for evading tax and laundering money.”
What utter nonsense, you might as well call a bonded warehouse tax evasion too!
Tell me Andy, is it better to allow exemptions from some specific taxes and thus create employment (on which tax is paid, by both employer and employee) or not have such employment at all – after all, do remember, for ever penny less paid in PAYE and Ni is “an operation cancelled for you or your family, and extended wait for a GP, no social care, potholed roads, a school class of 35 etc etc etc.” Ho-hum..
August 17, 2019
Your mistake is to assume private sector is always good and public sector is always bad. This is clearly not true.
The problem with your position is that you wonāt tackle the real cause of high taxes – the elderly.
You whine about 0.7% of government spending going on overseas aid, and even less going on the EU. Axing those entirely would cut government spending by 1% and could lower your taxes by 1% – barely worth bothering with.
The real game changer is axing the almost 50% of government spending which goes on the elderly. Pensions, social care, extra NHS costs. Just think – you could halve taxes. I know how to spend my money better than the government does. And most of my money goes on you lot. Outrageous. I want to spend it on me and my kids
– not on your latest round the world cruise or your bingo night.
August 17, 2019
Your mistake is to assume private sector is always good and public sector is always bad. This is clearly not true.
I do not assume this “always” just 99% of the time.
August 17, 2019
Where, in the public sector, would it have been in anyone’s interest to fit cheaper, flammable cladding to Grenfell Tower than that specified by the designer, and approved by planning/building control? Or to fly-tip trade waste, rather than to pay for its proper disposal?
August 18, 2019
That is a ridiculous comment.
Fly tipping is the result of the public sector closing down waste reception sites or greatly reducing the opening hours of them.
Then they have restricted what vehicles can use these sites, trailers and vans need pre approved permits.
Huge queues now are the norm at weekends and other busy periods.
My local council now charges to dispose of large household items.
If your waste is designated trade waste then councils have decided you have to set up a trade contract at great cost together with lots of waste transfer notes and environmental agency registration paperwork,
Or go away use a private waste company.
And you wonder why fly tipping is on the rise?
As for Grenfell I would wait until the enquiry concludes if I were you, before you try to blame anyone but the public sector bodies involved.
August 18, 2019
Martin in C
You seem to have a mental block over Grenfell Tower
You seem blissfully unaware that Grenfell Tower was owned and managed by Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council
How odd
August 18, 2019
The contractors who fitted the cladding were the private sector, Lib.
Edwards, so the council tax payers should pay, to clear up cash-in-hand, tax-dodging, fly-tipping tradesmen’s waste, should they?
I wonder who they vote for too?
We know, don’t we?
August 18, 2019
You are being silly Martin
A company that fits the cladding cannot be held responsible for the decision to choose a particular type of material.
Their job is separate to that decision.
Local people pay council tax, often well over Ā£2000 per year.
One of the basic services is waste disposal.
You spoke about fly tipping and its recent increase.
I told you why this happens.
Trade waste has always been chargeable but recently councils have made their previous service much more expensive and much more difficult to access.
August 17, 2019
Andy
“The problem with your position is that you wonāt tackle the real cause of high taxes ā the elderly.”
Oh crap here we go again.
August 18, 2019
Andy, It is more valid to say that the real cause of high taxes is the young. There are more people in the UK who are under 21 than there are pensioners. Almost the entire education budget is spent on the young. And the young (-9 months to 5 years, particularly) have a disproportionate amount spent on them by the NHS. Then there’s child allowance, and other “free” stuff.
Of course the reality is that each person – on average – costs society both at the beginning of his/her life and at the end. So we expect productive contributions generally between the ages of 21 and 67, but not after, and not before either. Taking such a whole life view is fair and rational. And your extreme criticism of pensioners is therefore just bigotry, and ignorant with it.
August 17, 2019
Your opening assertion shows that you have little understanding of what free ports are.
August 17, 2019
Andy
You are clueless and brainless . You attack everything about the UK ( in fact as most ultra remainers on here do) without having a clue what you are actually talking about
FYI
There are 80 free zones within the EU. Until 2012 there were five free ports within the UK, until the UK government allowed the domestic laws that set up those ports to expire.
August 18, 2019
Andy, That’s ironic considering you eulogise your mafia protection racket EU all the time!
August 17, 2019
Yes from 1st November the UK can offer and live by it’s own solutions to the World and domestic financial situation. Look at the economies that have performed well and learn from them.
So far we have only heard of schemes to increase public spending, presumably from yet more borrowing but with sustainable repayment. Can we now hear of means.of creating wealth for individuals and the nation and of course retaining that wealth. Continuity taxation after income tax needs to be massively reduce and in many cases elliminated altogether. In this last category I include.stamp duty and IHT. All the silly reporting impositions on industry should also go. They cost money to no great good. VAT should vastly reduce, no parasitic organisation such as government deserves more than 5% of peoples endevours. Such a move would vastly reduce the incentive to avoid it altogether by resorting to cash payments. Might improve the overall take.
The most important contribution would be a reduction in what government feels it has to do in peoples lives and a return to personal responsibility.
August 17, 2019
āThe most important contribution would be a reduction in what government feels it has to do in peoples lives and a return to personal responsibility.ā How true a statement this is. If only MPs would adhere to it.
The quickest way to improve the economy would be to stop wrecking it. Simplify, reduce and streamline the tax system and other regulations to help entrepreneurs. Allow the free market to operate and donāt bail out any companies including banks.
August 17, 2019
James 1
Indeed so. I read somewhere that the tax system is going to be simplified, which is good news.
As for wrecking the economy, the likes of Corbyn needs his activities curtailed, preferably by a moving bus.
August 18, 2019
Andy is going to have him and the rest of us done away with – its just a matter of time!
August 17, 2019
Exactly.
August 17, 2019
Yes from 1st November the UK can offer and live by itās own solutions to the World and domestic financial situation. Look at the economies that have performed well and learn from them.
We should start by getting rid of the NHS. The NHS is a much celebrated by the British public. However, there is one problem with it: it doesnāt work very well. Many like to think that our NHS is the āenvy of the worldā, but this is far from the case. In international comparisons including from the WHO, OECD and the Commonwealth Fund, it almost always ranks in the bottom third of developed countries, on par with the Czech Republic and Slovenia. The Commonwealth fund study is by far the most generous, and thus is the one that its defenders most often site. However, even in this study, in the health outcomes category it ranks second to last. In other words āThe only black mark against the NHS was its poor record of keeping people aliveā. A much better solution would be a social health insurance system, the model used by many social democracies. They combine the universality of a public system with the consumer choice, competitiveness and innovation of a market system. With social health insurance, everyone in the country, no matter their level of income, has universal access to quality healthcare, just like the system we know. And in terms of patient outcomes, quality and efficiency, these systems beat the NHS on almost nearly every single measure. Our out-dated, bureaucratic, fully state-controlled healthcare system is badly in need of reform. Privatisation isnāt a bad word ā it can work very well, as we learn from our European neighbours. Instead of clinging to what weāve got, we should be exploring these alternatives. Healthcare policy should reject the ideological quagmire itās currently stuck in and focus on what really matters: the patient.
August 18, 2019
Your facts corroborate my own reading.
However, the justifiable fear that many have here is that if the NHS were scrapped, then it would be replaced by a poorer system still.
What reassurances could there be that it would not, when you look at how the UK compares with other modern countries on everything from pension provision, to social care, to housing and to policing?
August 17, 2019
Mr Javed is quoted this morning making clear his intentions about the tax system. These sounded positive to me and the right direction of travel towards greater simplicity and efficiency.
There is scope to make necessary adjustments to government spending. There is also a need given the many signs of a global trade slow down and the disruption to supply chains resulting from trade wars. At least the Johnson government has expressed its intentions and vigour to tackle the challenges faced by the UK as well the opportunities ahead. This is in marked contrast to those promoting the alternative of sliding back into the morass that is the EU – laughingly called a government of national unity.
August 17, 2019
JR, you increasingly write as if you are a remote observer of this Conservative government that you are a core component of. ” … considering the severe monetary and fiscal squeeze administered by the outgoing government.”. Like its activities have nothing to do with you. Should we expect an announcement soon?
Reply I support the new government. I campaigned to change the last PM and Chancellor as I disagreed with their policy and said why at the time. Do you still not understand this is my site not some Conservative party spin site?
August 17, 2019
Keep it up John.
August 17, 2019
acorn…so is there a Corbyn or McDonnell blog site where devotees, or opposite views held are forcibly expressed – pray do tell? Are current issues debated, with reasoned argument?
Do Clarke, Grieve, Swinson etc discuss daily subjects on a blog of interest to supporters/voters? I think not.
August 17, 2019
Fred H
Indeed so, and I think people should appreciate that Mr Redwood provides this facility at his own cost and time.
To my knowledge John Redwood is the only MP who does this.
August 17, 2019
“provides this facility at his own cost and time”…..maybe time but we pay his unnecessary salary. Instead you should write “provides this facility at his own time”
August 18, 2019
Almost dead
āprovides this facility at his own cost and timeāā¦..maybe time but we pay his unnecessary salary”
He’s one of the few MP’s worth every penny.
He doesn’t ‘have’ to provide this site you know, and he ‘could’ be charging a subscription fee if he wanted to.
You come across as a very ungrateful person.
August 18, 2019
almost dead …. I think you will find Sir John earns a living advising on investments etc. It has been clear for many years that the MPs salary for Sir John is well earned, compared to the majority of MPs – you might call it a bargain.
August 18, 2019
Wrong AD
There is a cost involved running a site such as this one.
August 17, 2019
Yes, I disagree strongly with John on many points, but his maintaining this site is very commendable, I think.
Most sites which espouse similar views are intensely prudish, not allowing opposing views to be aired, but John’s censorship is apparently only exercised where proper.
August 17, 2019
MiC
” but Johnās censorship is apparently only exercised where proper.”
Well that depends on what you as a poster define as proper. The problem is litigation is everywhere these days, just waiting to pounce….and with it being JR’s head on the block you just have to accept his censorship sometimes, even if you can’t see why he moderates the way he does, but trust his judgement.
Considering the kind of lawyer’s world we live in these days I do think it takes some balls to run a site like this.
August 18, 2019
Well said, Martin. I come here because it is NOT an echo chamber.
August 18, 2019
Well said, Marin. I come here because it is NOT an echo chamber.
August 18, 2019
Anon, Is anyone there?
Is anyone there???
August 17, 2019
Sorry, I must have missed that day when a “… current issues debated, with reasoned argument?” I have never read a reasoned argument on any “leave/ no-deal” website. Not even Minister Gove backed by a huge spin machine has got even close to working up a rebuttal! But thanks for the laugh anyway.
August 18, 2019
Acorn, And you think your saying: “Still, as the US and the UK have put the lunatics in charge of their governing asylums, we should get used to this sort of nonsense” is a “reasoned argument”? You still won’t acknowledge that we are ruled by the EU (see Lisbon Declaration 17); and you are still unable to say why the UK cannot be as successfully independent of the EU as New Zealand is.
August 18, 2019
acorn would define “reasoned argument” as those that agree with what acorn thinks.
August 18, 2019
acorn – – you clearly missed the numerous debates and explanations ON THIS SITE of what was implied in the WA? Sir John detailed much of it item by item, if that was not current what on earth is?
August 18, 2019
I have read every page of it because I was paid to do it. And, I know for sure, that you “leave” muppets are being fed a pig-in-a-poke.
BTW. Fedupsoutherner wants me to go away; which sadly, I have to do; a continental revenue opportunity calls.
We are close to the point where the excreta hits the fan; particularly, for the 83% of “leave” voters who are dependent on State Pensions and/or State Benefits. The Ā£243 billion DWP budget will be the first to suffer post brexit added austeritisation, until we get closer to a 2022 General Election that is.
August 18, 2019
Muppets…what a very cerebral and academic comment of yours acorn.
August 18, 2019
Quite so, Nick Ferrari said a few days ago Corbyn had repeatedly refused to debate on his show, similarly Farage said Corbyn ducks invites. It is the same pattern – serious exposure worries them.
August 17, 2019
Alas, I would have liked to have campaigned to change the last PM and Chancellor, as I disagreed with their policy; but, I and 45.7 million fellow voters were not allowed. Westminster may as well be on another planet as far as the latter are concerned.
The honourable, conventional way to – possibly – solve this mess, is to have a General Election. Each candidate pledged to declare in their personal manifesto for “no-deal” or the “May-WA-deal”. Let’s set in stone that the UK leaves the EU fully and finally on the 31st October; the Brexit event horizon!
August 17, 2019
Acorn, how often do you think General Elections should be held? I’m not in favour of the Fixed Terms Act, but I think once every 4-5 years allows a Government (of any persuasion) time to demonstrate its intentions and, in some cases, get policies working. Then the electorate can make its judgement.
August 18, 2019
Same as the US Congress. All MPs elected every two years. If we had a Senate instead of the HoL, a third elected every two years for six year terms.
August 17, 2019
The honourable, if not conventional, way would be for MPs to actually do what was clearly and unambiguously promised in the official leaflet sent by the government to every household before the EU referendum.
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2019/08/15/trade-wars-4/#comment-1045885
I think it would be a good idea for the government to send that leaflet out again, with a covering note explaining to voters that this was what they were promised before the referendum and now we are going to do it, despite the best efforts of some elements of the political class.
It would cost another Ā£9 million or so but it would be well worth that.
August 17, 2019
The standard “get-out”, used by MPs who vote in contradiction of manifestos, is “everyone has a right to change their mind”. Given that, we haven’t a clue what we’re going to get in Parliament.
August 17, 2019
@acorn; Whilst I might strongly disagree with our host at times he is an excellent communicator (at least the written word…) non the less, his use of the third person, academic style, is as it should be, he is putting policy ideas forward, and not necessarily his ideas.
“Should we expect an announcement soon?”
Quite possibly; that he will be standing again, for the Tory party, in the Wokingham constituency, the forthcoming GE…
@corn (follow-up to JR-reply); “I would have liked to have campaigned to change the last PM and Chancellor,”
You did have that chance, it was called the 2017 general election!
Reply I have been selected as the prospective Conservative candidate
August 17, 2019
Delighted to hear of your reselection, John!
August 18, 2019
absolutely – – I see many failings in the Conservative party actions and inaction but know for sure I want Sir John to be part of them. Who else would I want? Can’t think of anyone frankly. I just hope he can influence change before the party becomes irrelevant.
August 17, 2019
We are fortunate to have this site thanks to John. It is the first thing I read in the mornings and its more informative than the media. Go away acorn. You are ungrateful and your posts are derogatory towards our host.
August 17, 2019
Yes, we do know it’s not ‘spin’ and very refreshing that is too. It’s good to be properly informed, and most commenters here get it and are informative in their turn. I believe most of us are grateful for it. There are bound to be a few ”Eeyores” – never happy unless they’re miserable.
August 17, 2019
Agreed but the Government are not in control of fibre roll out.
Out in the sticks if you want it you wait, or pay vast sums of money as a family member will advise you.
August 17, 2019
@Alan Jutson; “the Government are not in control of fibre roll out”
But they could be, given the political will, as was the case with much of our necessary national infrastructure back in the 1950s for example.
August 17, 2019
More government interference in the market. We need less government. The government should stay out of it, lest it sound like Labour
August 18, 2019
@AlmostDead; Yours is a dogmatic, unthinking, thought process. š
So you want there to be 100+ fibre providers all digging up the same streets and roads to provide their own FTTP service, just so that you can feel smug that you have ‘true choice’ despite that all providers charge more or less the same access fees and far more than in many other countries that do have a high level of regulation or the State owns the infrastructure.
LLUB, via Federal regulation, has been used in the USA almost since the the dawn of their telecoms services, are you saying customers in the US do not have competition.
August 17, 2019
We all have our own yardsticks for where stamp duty should be but Ā£54’000 to buy a 3 bed house in Wokingham when you haven’t sold your own is way over the top. If we are then hammered again when we eventually sell then we and many others won’t bother to down size.
August 17, 2019
Remember CGT is also payable if your first house hasn’t sold soon after you buy. What’s the incentive to downsize?
August 17, 2019
Think of the future gains for the govt after it has destroyed England by building a million new houses in an arc across our (was ) lovely countryside. A million houses – add on shops, schools, hospitals, roads, water supply, sewage systems etc – -and God knows about all the extra electricity needed – Hope it is windy. And who will be living in those million houses? I’ll bet they’ll mainly be occupied by the flood that May signed up to accept.
Glad i’m old and nearer death. That has to be better than what this country will look like in forty years time.
August 17, 2019
Ah yes, “internationally competitive”. Sounds good except when you know that the competition is to debase our currency faster than the others in a race to worthlessness. Meanwhile Russia and China know the game and the outcome and are buying record amounts of gold so that when western governments have succeeded in pauperising their population for the sole benefit of the rich they will still have a currency that is worth something. It will be interesting to see which happens first, race wars due to population replacement, economic collapse or the rapid cooling of the planet due to the solar minimum thinning us out with starvation. The most entertaining bit will be the useless political class making excuses why their every policy and statement for the last couple of decades has been absolute drivel.
August 17, 2019
Am I right in sensing a different mood?
Positive thinking at last?
Can do – as opposed to moaning?
This dreadful QC came on yesterday on the radio to discuss knife crime. “Well”, she said in her posh voice,”it is all about government cuts. If you don’t fund the Police, the lawyers and the prisons properly, then there is very little we can doā¦”
I know a teacher – in Australia actually – who works in a very responsible job with native Australians. He does it because he believes in what he is doing. He is not after promotion. He is certainly not after money. And he is fun, with a sense of humour to go with it and a nice family. He runs an old car and lives in a modest part of town.
The expensive, well heeled QC might learn a couple of things from him, I think.
The mood is changing, I can feel itā¦
August 17, 2019
I’m sure the dead-beat dad culture has a lot to do with the knife crime problem – boys with no fatherly guidance ending up in gangs. They don’t seem to mention that, and even shut anyone down who does.
August 17, 2019
Dave Andrews
Yes I’m sure you’re right, I’ve said for years bad parenting is the cause of a lot of problems.
August 18, 2019
whooaa ….Dave…..you mustn’t suggest absence of fathers is a factor. Not PC….Sir John must have missed that inference. I think the territorial high-rise blocks, skipped education, poor prospects and little family motivation have rather more to do with it. Plenty of balanced, low income, one parent families produce fine children turning into proud adults.
August 19, 2019
Missing dads in most cases. It is a much mentioned thing “he comes from a broken home” Either in celebrating a high achiever or presenting mitigation in court. One is deemed in spite of and the other because of.
Most kids from broken homes fail to achieve their potential.
August 17, 2019
Interest rates are already below inflation. If they are reduced further, they will be negative.
August 17, 2019
There are said to be c$15 trillion worth of negative-yielding bonds(around one quarter of the global total apparently)in circulation-including from the likes of Poland and Hungary.What is that telling us about the state of the global-and particularly western-financial system?
No wonder there’s been a flight to gold and bitcoin.
August 17, 2019
Presumably itās an academic discussion at this point as there is no chance of a budget or presumably any legislation in the current parliament. But the key thing Boris needs to do which May never did is give leadership and direction so people know what they will get with a majority Conservative govt.
August 17, 2019
I see the BBC Today programme gave you a tokenistic minute or two to give themselves cover for the daily gaming they do with remainers to find a way to stop Brexit, but even in that minute or two they gave you they showed us their dishonesty and deceitfulness.
Boris did not call remainer politicians collaborators (definition-a person who cooperates traitorously with an enemy; a defector) , he said collaborations (definition- the process of two or more people or organisations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal) a significant difference , and what we have here is an example of BBC fake news. It also showed us the amateurishness of the Conservative party and Government rebuttal unit, for they should have warned you about that, and given you the chance to correct them. Conservative politicians really need to understand the BBC is not your friends, they aren’t even impartial, they are the enemy, and they will do anything and everything, by fair means or foul, to damage Brexit and the Conservative party.
August 17, 2019
I wonder whether in this particular case it isn’t wise of the government to stand aloof from the disgraceful orchestration by the broadcasters of a parliamentary putsch against the executive and the people. By giving the plotters free command of the airwaves they are enabling remainiac conservatives and socialists to see the full horror of what is going on and draw back from joining it. For example, Sir Oliver Letwin seems to be looking for a way out now.
I thought Sir John was quite right this morning to concentrate on the positives of our leaving without punitive obligations to the EU and not dwell on the low antics of some of his parliamentary colleagues.
August 17, 2019
It will take more than internet fibre to make a big difference to the economy – it will help, but with BT under more pressure I’m concerned their share price will go even lower…!
Reducing the tax burden would help us all, but please get Boris to promise us a tax revolution after Brexit. Current tax system is unfit, so just let the Chancellor know that there are better ways to collect tax…. even I could do better than the current system.
Empower the small business man or woman – that’s where our growth potential lies.
August 17, 2019
Reform the State sector and cut taxes. The first requires political will to confront difficult challenges and conviction, which the current Tory party don’t possess. The second is a desire to see a smaller state and a freer citizen which is something the Tory party rejected when they and the EU deposed Thatcher
Maybe the SPADS from the Taxpayers Alliance can educate some of the Tory socialists on how the capital and wealth creation function’s in the real world
Accept that conflict with vested interest is a necessary consequences of reforming Labour’s client state and the Tory government should succeed
August 17, 2019
An aspect of this is that government collects tax to do things it deems necessary. Problem is that government is just about the most inefficient high cost organisation one could imagine for doing anything. I draw the line at defense, the NHS and policing , but just about everything else is either better not done, like HS2, or done through commercial organisations. Where are the profit projections for HS2 inclusive of the payback on the capital expenditure. They do not exist I would suggest.
I separate the NHS because I fear that out and out privatisation would be detrimental to the compassionate element of the service. I suspect that the way it is managed, its portfolio of purchases conducted, could be much improved without affecting the excellent medical service it gives within it’s financial limits. It could do better where its limits are staff and money if it had same. You cannot replace hips without surgeons and the myriad support staff they need. If you had sufficient the facilities could be run 24/7 to maximise the return on some very expensive capital equipment they have.
In Worcester we have a multi million pound project to improve traffic. It is about half complete, but is already obvious that it is a sticking plaster solution, not a comprehensive solution. I will not boor you with detail but it is a classic example of government spending as little as it can get away with and pushing the problem ten years down the road.
Ministries involved in heavy public expenditure projects need professional staff engineers, civil engineers et al rather than career civil servants. This way the shortcomings of the Worcester road problem could be avoided.
August 17, 2019
The facts4eu site that Andy has dismissed as being biased is reporting this morning that in yesterday’s announcement by Eurostat, the EU’s own statistics agency, Eurozone exports to non EU countries fell by 4.7% in the year to June. Our own ONS reports show that UK exports to non EU countries increased by 15.3% over the same period, but UK exports to the EU 27 countries FELL by 4.2%. OK, Andy, Margaret H, Martin in Cardiff, Newmania etc, let’s have your comments on this, which the BBC has singularly failed to mention. As facts4eu says, if the numbers were the other way around, just imagine the BBC headlines!
August 17, 2019
How interesting that not one of the ‘usual suspects’ has commented on this. Inconvenient facts that don’t fit in with their biased, fact-free view of the world. Revealing!
August 18, 2019
JiminyJim, That is remarkable news. I shall be very interested when the new Pink book comes out (Oct 2019).
August 17, 2019
The one thing Leavers didn’t tell us was that Brexit was going to be hard. I always knew it would be. I think it was a mistake on their part but understand why they had to do it.
The reason why most people voted Leave is a taboo subject. We get shouted down every time we try to explain. It is bigger than the economy. It a resistance movement against the wilful destruction of our people.
Neither Remainer Andy nor Remainer Newmania is capable of arguing against that without using hostile language which confirms to us that our fears are true.
After two years of written evidence it is too late for them to deny it.
Recent voting figures show that the issue is still bigger than the economy. Only 15% of people voted for politicians who would save membership of the EU in recent EU elections with the only party dedicated to it (CHUK) being humiliated and knocked into oblivion, all despite three years of BBC propaganda and hysteria.
August 18, 2019
Anon, can you please state a “British value” that is not also shared by every other modern, civilised democracy?
Right, now, the people coming here who may not come from such places are not our fellow Europeans. They mainly come from the ex-British Empire, don’t they?
Moreover, their coming here is entirely under sovereign national control, and is nothing whatsoever to do with the European Union.
So what the blazes difference will leaving make to that?
Rather, more such people will be admitted, as Farage himself says, to make up for those formerly from the EU.
August 19, 2019
I know. But it’s our politicians (they turn out to have been Remainers by and large) who kept telling us the removal of borders was because of the EU and that we could do nothing about those with dissimilar values because of EU human rights laws.
It was Remainers (by and large) who enjoyed slapping us about the face and rubbing our noses in diversity by means of unpopular *uncontrolled* immigration as distinct from *controlled* immigration which the vast majority of us had no problem with before.
This is what Nigel Farage promises: a controlled, points based, immigration system as per our country’s needs and not the free-for-all (except those who pay for it) shambles we have now.
Because Blair et al blamed the EU the EU got it in the neck. Perhaps it was a mistake but thank goodness we are a peaceable and law abiding people and chose the ballot box… phew !
I’m afraid there were always going to be consequences for imposing rapid, huge and unwanted change on a people whose bloodline goes back centuries.
Perhaps Brexit does not make sense to you but the national division is along the lines of those who think *uncontrolled* immigration is OK and those who do not. Those who believe in nation and those who do not. I don’t believe this is really about the EU but you are being offered a choice and it is this:
– you sacrifice the EU (implement the referendum)
or
– you sacrifice the British Parliament (ignore the referendum)
Remember that Remain comes with a Marxist government when you calculate the economic benefits of remaining.
Blair/Major played a very dangerous game and it has driven us (and I mean both sides) to insanity.
Please don’t be so arrogant to assume that it’s all on ours and none of it on yours.
August 18, 2019
Anon, Actually a wide range of Leaves (previously eurosceptics) said that leaving the EU would be hard, ranging from Dr North with his Flexcit compromise, to Gerard Batten (The Road to Freedom; book 2014) and even myself in letters to papers (from 2003), and many others.
It always annoyed me when jonny-come-latelys (2016 on) blithely said we could get a good deal. Though to be fair I think the EU is beginning to realise it has blundered by being so harsh. I also suspect the EU has been misled by UK Remains who pressed for ever more EU intransigence.
August 17, 2019
Hmmm ‘fibre’ is rather vague. Most people get ‘fibre to the cabinet’ which means the old BT copper wires are used for the last few yards, creating a severe bottleneck.
Only Virgin offers ‘fibre to the home’ which allows them to offer speeds of up to 300Mbps. Sky have geographically-limited offerings here and Virgin also do not service all areas by any means.
The other major factor in full fibre is that people can ditch their land line telephone service in favour of VoIP which is a case of buying a small box for Ā£50, plug it into your router, plug your phones into that and you have a free land line. There are internet providers who provide a free landline number and incoming calls, with users free to top up (or not) and to use different providers to make calls – even programming the box with call rates for different providers, for those who want to go that far, so that it chooses the cheapest for each call.
Or you can just use it as a free landline for incoming, as we do, and use mobile minutes for outgoing calls.
This is a step forward for consumers and businesses, since line rental for landlines is very expensive, for,…. basically nothing.
August 17, 2019
Somewhat off topic, but congratulations to our host on his interview on The Today Programme this morning. For reasons about which we can only speculate he actually got a fair hearing and made good use of it. He was of course outnumbered by interviewees with contrary views earlier in the programme, but nevertheless, its a good start.
August 17, 2019
Your tweet today about Remainer claims on imports being disrupted is well made. Our imports are under our control, providing they get through outgoing custom checks at source, so aren’t a risk to supply chains, food, medicines, supermarket shelves or consumption.
But the real risk to our economy is EU27 action on our exports that we can’t control – like the French threat to block our fish exports from entering the country, “Not one kilogram” someone said. Nor can we force EU to buy our produce so we should be circumspect about buying theirs until their intentions are clear. So far, the weaker pound is having a good impact on our exports, particularly non-EU, and on our trade deficit with EU27 and little impact on inflation, contrary to Remainer bleats about prices going up.
August 17, 2019
Mike P
About the French and the fish. Personally I don’t care a hoot if the French want to get crappy, as is their style.
Why do we need to export fish ? it’s ours, it’s in our seas, we should keep it for ourselves. The time must come that we do not give away or sell off our Island’s resources, under any circumstances.
August 18, 2019
ah but true vegans, with publicity telling me they are becoming the majority, will not eat fish…..damn that market gone then.
August 17, 2019
The EU is a signatory to the WTO so to block our products would be to contravene WTO rules.
August 18, 2019
MikeP
“contrary to Remainer bleats about prices going up.”
You obviously don’t do the grocery shopping in your house. And we haven’t even left yet.
August 18, 2019
MH
Prices will go up. I have no doubt retailers will hike prices and blame it on brexit. They hiked prices during decimalisation, they’ll do it again. They just need a pathetic excuse.
Short of laws to prevent them doing that, the best thing is to shop wisely.
Be shrewd, be wise……if the price has gone up, don’t buy it. Only buy the essentials like bread and milk, and if they’ve gone up buy less.
I have a feeling retailers might have to be taught a lesson; ‘charge us more = get less of our money’
Personally I can survive on bread, cheese, sweet pickle, swiss bullion and a few eggs.
I think more people should grow their own fruit & veg and maybe keep a few hens. Then they wouldn’t be over a barrel by the supermarkets who seem to know how much people earn, and are expert at getting it off them.
August 17, 2019
Dear Sir John Redwood
Totally agree with you given that Britain is flirting with Recession; you don’t want to give ammunition to those who say “No deal” Brexit is disastrous by allowing Recession! So, borrowing’s very cheap at present (low interest rates): Now is the time to borrow more (not too much with 85% GDP National Debt), slash Foreign Aid (pro-tem) and withhold all further payments to the EU (inc. the Ā£39 billion)- to give the economy a much needed Supply-side (and Demand-side) boost through Income Tax cuts and higher Public Spending- with major investment in housing, roads and rail.
You are also going to need a General Election to clear out the Remainers in Parliament to get a Brexit- supporting Majority. So use radical fiscal measures to offer bold eye- catching policies to appeal to the young and the poor who flock to Labour.
So how about no longer bowing to 16 year old Environmentalists: The previous Interglacial to our won 125,000 years ago was 2.5C warmer than today yet the Polar ice- caps remained intact: At that time there were lions roaming southern England!). So do something truly radical? Repeal (or at least suspend pro-tem) the 2008 Climate Change Act saving businesses huge costs, have a Wealth Tax on personal wealth over Ā£1 million at just 2% (entrepreneurs released from Green Legislation could afford it); use the Ā£60 billion raised to further slash taxes, cut VAT and invest more in the NHS, the Police and Defence: Then fund an eye catching Conservative policy of 2 million EXTRA new high- quality homes over the next ten years to be sold cheaply to first- time buyers.
That is the way to get the Voters away from Jeremy Corbyn and the Remain Parties- SO THAT you can get the Brexit-supporting Majority after the (unavoidable) October 2019 Election. Otherwise Remainers and Judges in the Supreme Court will probably find a way of stopping Boris Johnson properly taking Britain out of the EU on 31st October!
But the Economy- specifically Money- is key: Money Talks and so it will probably be necessary to “bribe” all Leave-supporting Voters to get full-square behind the Conservative Party in the unavoidable Election to ensure Brexit is delivered properly! Such policies will also help the UK avoid recession and weakening arguments of Remain.
Does Boris Johnson yet realise that policies to Entice Voters with Money will be a vital part of the Strategy to Defeat Remainers? If he doesn’t perhaps Sir, you should tell him before it’s too late. The Prime Minister has about a month’s grace before Remainer MPs and Judges bind his hands!
Ian Pennell
August 18, 2019
Hitchens argues correctly today that the recent blackout was during an attempt to prove that we could run on 50% wind energy.
Well. We obviously can’t then.
August 17, 2019
Rule Britannia. We no longer rule the waves but we do look forward to ruling ourselves again.
Roll on Halloween and let us use the witches broom to sweep the EU into our subservient past.
August 17, 2019
I have always regarded you as the best PM we never had even if I disagree with some of your positions. So I have always very much been a Redwood supporter. Yet I see you have given my letter about the suicidal Climate Act the brush off, despite the fact that it was posted around 6 am this morning and so must have been one of the first received. And I also see you regularly allow letters from idiots who write far more nonsense than I ever do.
All the facts I spoke of are demonstrably true. My calculator tells me that 400 ppm is 1/2,500 so CO2 is indeed a very rare trace gas in the air. Ice cores tell us that CO2 concentration rises around 800 years after global temperature rises and not before, so CO2 cannot cause climate change, it is driven by it. And if even a lefty such as Philip Hammond reckons zero carbon will cost us a horrifying Ā£ trillion wasted of taxpayers’ money then we can fairly reasonably assume it’s going to be much more.
I know that you are considerably brighter than I am. So if even I rumbled the climate religion for the disgraceful fraud that it is a couple of decades ago I can hardly believe that you’re taken in by it for an instant.
So why the instant brush off? I’m guessing, and it is just a guess, that the Tory Party is scared silly by the subject of the man-made global warming scam. It is frightened witless in fact in case any of its MP’s might even give the time of day to discussion of the economic suicide note that is the Climate Act, a piece of legislation so disastrous that it will inevitably condemn this country in the long term to becoming an economic backwater. Clearly this is not to be discussed in polite circles under any circumstances because somebody might just notice that the emperor has no clothes. And we can’t have that. Q.E.D.
August 17, 2019
I suspect long thoughtful contributions with links in may be put on one side for further study, checking, etc. while shorter, sillier ones are posted straight away.
August 17, 2019
Your post is the first one on this thread, Martin!
August 17, 2019
Well said Martin. The Climate change act is a gross Foley and is costing us in more ways than one. You do not need to be a scientist just able to do basic maths to work out that the CO2 climate change is a scam.
August 18, 2019
Martin…..ha ha.
August 17, 2019
JR
“The UK economy has performed very well”
So why are so many economists forecasting a recession this year?
August 17, 2019
MH
Here you go
https://www.worldfinancialreview.com/the-predicted-2020-global-recession/
Markets are global margaret we’ve been trying to tell you that for the last 3 years yet you are focused on a little backward looking bit of western Europe
August 18, 2019
MH
Because they have an interest in sacrificing our independence, and they think that they can scare us with baloney.
August 17, 2019
There’s no magic formula for growth. Who to tax, when to tax, where to tax, how much to tax? Lifelogic is right, there’s too much taxation, and the worst kind is taxing the rich to pay more to the poor in transfer payments, so that they can buy even more low quality Chinese imports, thus enriching only importers and retailers. Spend tax revenue on big projects that produce revenue in local economies eg toll roads, railways etc, not on those that leak out to China digital or engineering. Provide incentives for successful projects to re-invest profits in local economies. And set in place procedures to discourage the selling off of indigenous assets to foreign firms, eg Pilkington Glass, Cadbury’s, various Cambridge tech firms, Fuller’s Brewers, Costa Coffee(to Coca Cola). We are the only country that allows leveraged buyouts of their assets and infrastructure. Disgraceful!
August 17, 2019
he has promised fibre to the premises, rather than the UK default of fibre to the cabinet (in the street) and then copper to the premises from there. which is good…
but it does leave a whole bunch of challenges like where is the massed army to do this coming from? where are the larger telco exchange buildings coming from? and so much more
an obvious immediate emergency measure would be to ban copper to the premises on “new build” properties. most of the cost is in digging the road up, when the road is being dug up anyways we may as well lay fibre optic cable… of course this would immediately expose that many exchanges simply dont have the space to cope, and that too would need emergency measures
August 17, 2019
I note Cummings, I mean the government, has promised to make it easier for anyone with a science degree to come in on a work visa. I look forward to many industries using cheaper workers with such degrees from a whole bunch of cheaper countries. Hopefully when this happens more people will realise the disgraceful way the information tech sector has been treated by recent governments allowing mass immigration to undercut and displace locals.
Another manipulation of the system by the political class that has absolutely no support in the country whatsoever.
August 17, 2019
A lot of people are away on holidays at the moment and as we’re so near 31st Oct anyway it’s hardly worth commenting on anything further- so better to just sit back now and watch it all happen. I’d say by the middle of November we should have a better idea on what parts of the economy need boosting.
August 17, 2019
Heed the warnings by President Trump about globalism and copy his actions in bringing back outsourced industries to the country:
‘President Trump: āWe Will No Longer Surrender This Country, or Its People, To The False Song of Globalismāā¦…..’
The G7 in Biarritz, Aug 24-26th, should be very interesting.
Also we could learn some vital lessons from the Trump doctrine:
“Economic Security is National Security”
August 18, 2019
Chris
Not a very clever Trump doctrine when one threatens and annoys countries across the globe as he does.
August 18, 2019
I suggest you visit The Conservative Tree House website to gain some understanding of P Trump’s foreign and economic policy. He has undoubtedly prevented WWWIII through getting a peace treaty between North and S Korea, and he is preventing Iran from further developing nuclear weapons (which in reality were being developed under Obama), and he has destroyed ISIS, whose provenance (ISIS) owes much to Obama’s foreign policy, I understand.
It seems, in reality, that Obama was no friend of the West nor the USA. The truth is slowly coming out about what happened under Obama, and what was apparently planned under Hillary (16 year Plan to destroy America).
August 18, 2019
MH
……maybe they had it coming ?
August 18, 2019
At least he doesn’t engage in many world conflicts like St Obama and his other predecessors.