This is a slightly edited extract from an article originally published in City AM on 30th October.
On no fewer than 38 occasions, the Chancellor referred to giving the economy “breathing space” in last week’s Budget. Do me a favour! He quite literally put a pillow over its face and suffocated the life out of it.
Let’s be clear, this Budget was not a plan for growth or national renewal. The Office of Budget Responsibility even said it couldn’t score a single measure as raising growth. This was simply a timid exercise in political management, a sticking plaster designed to allow this government to limp on a few more months.
But in the wealth-creating hubs of the City, businesses don’t need sticking plasters. They need stability, competitive taxation and a clear signal that ambition will be rewarded.
On no fewer than 38 occasions, the Chancellor referred to giving the economy “breathing space” in last week’s Budget. Do me a favour! He quite literally put a pillow over its face and suffocated the life out of it.
Let’s be clear, this Budget was not a plan for growth or national renewal. The Office of Budget Responsibility even said it couldn’t score a single measure as raising growth. This was simply a timid exercise in political management, a sticking plaster designed to allow this government to limp on a few more months.
But in the wealth-creating hubs of the City, businesses don’t need sticking plasters. They need stability, competitive taxation and a clear signal that ambition will be rewarded.
Consider the Chancellor’s treatment of our financial sector. At a time when London must fight harder than ever to maintain its status as a global financial powerhouse, Mr Healey’s answer was to hike taxes on banks.
Putting an extra three per cent on the bank surcharge sends a chilling signal to international investors. After all, capital is mobile. If London becomes a more expensive place to do business, investment simply flows elsewhere, taking jobs and future tax revenues with it.
This nothingburger Budget didn’t have anything to say about cutting the ballooning benefits bill or the eye-watering cost of borrowing.
Here are just some of the figures: borrowing forecasts for the next five years have risen £65 billion since March. By 2031 we’ll be spending £160 billion a year on debt interest alone – up £36 billion a year. Terrifying.
Pushing these issues into the distant future while distributing modest, headline-grabbing handouts today is the oldest trick in the socialist playbook. It is economic short-termism at its most reckless, mortgaging our future stability for tomorrow’s newspaper headlines.
Reform UK has a different plan. Before the Budget we came forward with 64 pro-growth policies that cost nothing, such as approving the Rosebank Oil field and giving the go ahead to new runways at Heathrow and Gatwick.
We would raise the personal allowance to £15,000 and pay for it by cutting £40 billion in waste, welfare dependency and foreign aid.
We would cut the cost of hiring British workers, raise the VAT registration threshold to £150,000 to give small firms more room to grow and scrap income tax on overtime.
Above all, we will ensure businessmen and entrepreneurs spend less time wrestling with the government and more time building successful businesses.
Because Britain is broke. Britain needs Reform.
Putting an extra three per cent on the bank surcharge sends a chilling signal to international investors. After all, capital is mobile. If London becomes a more expensive place to do business, investment simply flows elsewhere, taking jobs and future tax revenues with it.
This nothingburger Budget didn’t have anything to say about cutting the ballooning benefits bill or the eye-watering cost of borrowing.
Here are just some of the figures: borrowing forecasts for the next five years have risen £65 billion since March. By 2031 we’ll be spending £160 billion a year on debt interest alone – up £36 billion a year. Terrifying.
Pushing these issues into the distant future while distributing modest, headline-grabbing handouts today is the oldest trick in the socialist playbook. It is economic short-termism at its most reckless, mortgaging our future stability for tomorrow’s newspaper headlines.
Reform UK has a different plan. Before the Budget we came forward with 64 pro-growth policies that cost nothing, such as approving the Rosebank Oil field and giving the go ahead to new runways at Heathrow and Gatwick.
We would raise the personal allowance to £15,000 and pay for it by cutting £40 billion in waste, welfare dependency and foreign aid.
We would cut the cost of hiring British workers, raise the VAT registration threshold to £150,000 to give small firms more room to grow and scrap income tax on overtime.
Above all, we will ensure businessmen and entrepreneurs spend less time wrestling with the government and more time building successful businesses.
Because Britain is broke. Britain needs Reform.
Photo by: Number 10.
