We are told the next ‘big thing’ from Prime Minister Sunak and Chancellor Hunt is to cut benefits to fund tax cuts for the well-off in the hope it may stave off a disastrous General Election defeat.
So as the UK struggles with a cost-of-living crisis, soaring inflation and crippling interest rates the plan is to hit those struggling most and make them struggle more.
Tax cuts are part of the ‘trickle down’ economic thinking much beloved of the right-wing of the Conservative Party. The problem is there is little evidence that tax cuts do anything to boost economic growth. What is needed is a programme of targeted investment in the infrastructure of the country. Our crumbling schools, and potholed roads, are just two signs, of many, that ‘Broken Britain’ is broken precisely because the Government has, for years, cheese-paired the budgets needed to keep things working.
The good news is that income tax does not need to rise to begin to get a handle on the country’s problems. Some modest reforms to the tax on share dividends and share dealing, coupled with ensuring those who do owe tax pay it, could raise £ billions. Just three of the steps the Government could take to turn things around, there are others.
There is an old saying… ‘repeating a failed action in the hope of a different outcome is a sign of madness’. The tax cutting agenda is significantly what has led to the situation the country finds itself in. Doing more of it is a sure sign of madness. What we need is a programme of investment, and especially investment in the green technologies of tomorrow and their necessary supporting infrastructure.
Dare I say it? We need change if we are to rebuild ‘Broken Britain’. Time for change.
The recent decision by the official watchdog, the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, to rate the HS2 (high-speed rail link) as “unachievable” should worry us. It worries me, and I was not a supporter of the project; it should worry you if you were a s
