Tories should stand up for the strivers, the go-getters & the risk-takers to tackle inflation and slump
THE Bank of England failed to control inflation. Now the bank and Treasury officials tell us we need a recession to bring inflation down.
The Chancellor was wrong to accept their bad advice. The new enemy is slump.
What we need is to get behind all the people who work hard, pay their own way, create jobs and run their own businesses.
People who look after their own families and want to get on in the world should be backed.
They do not deserve a tax rise as punishment for the failures of the establishment.
The Conservative Party needs to stand up for the strivers, the go-getters, the risk takers, the business builders and the skilled workers.
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The way out of inflation is to produce more to end the shortages.
Government, instead of blocking production of our own oil and gas, should be offering the licences and encouragement for much more home output.
It’s crazy to import gas from abroad producing more CO2 than using our own.
Why is it OK to have fracked gas from the US but not from somewhere in the UK well away from homes?
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Instead of spending tax money on paying UK farmers not to grow food, we should be spending on investing in more greenhouses, polytunnels, grain harvesters and the rest to grow much more of what we eat.
Why tax us more to let farmland run wild? We should be tilling more fields and planting more vegetables to replace unreliable supplies from abroad.
Why offer grants to plant more trees for show while importing most of our timber from abroad?
There should be more local wood to build our homes, fuel our power stations and for furniture.
The benefits bill has ballooned after the Covid lockdowns. We do not just want a review, as the Government proposes.
We want immediate action to make it worthwhile to move off benefits. There are plenty of jobs available.
All those who get up to get out to a job expect others to look for work and take it where they can manage it.
Urgently legislate
We should urgently legislate to stop the flow of illegal entrants. The hotel bills to house them are unacceptable and should drive a new approach.
This new Government’s first priority was to vote through £11billion this year so the Bank of England could sell a load of investments at a loss, with taxpayers footing the bill.
All the Opposition parties agreed with this. It is quite wrong. Tell them not to sell to spare us the costs. The investments will be worth more if held to repayment dates.
Fighting recession means cutting taxes. Cut VAT on fuel and you bring price rises down at the same time.
Scrap the penal tax rules on the self employed and we will have more people providing us with goods and services.
Lower our business tax rates and more will come here and more will reinvest their profits here in new capacity and jobs.
Every time the Government has cut company tax rates the tax take has gone UP as more businesses come here and grow here.
Ireland, with much lower rates than us, gets a bigger chunk of its tax take from business taxes as a result.
People did not vote Conservative in 2019 to have high taxes and wasteful public spending.
They did not just vote Brexit for the sake of it.
We voted Conservative to get Brexit wins from lower taxes and more sensible rules to unleash enterprise and boost prosperity.
We wanted VAT taken off energy and green products, wanted fishing and farming policies that rebuilt our home industries and wanted to be free to trade with the rest of the world on better terms.
Offset damage
Covid set us and the rest of the world back. The Bank of England made the same mistake as the European and American Central banks in printing too much money and keeping interest rates too low, setting off an inflation.
Now they must not overdo it the other way and push us into a slump.
The Government needs to offset some of the damage tight money is now doing with selected tax cuts and backing more investment in Britain.
I cannot believe the Prime Minister will want to fight an election with promises of tax rises and austerity to come. That will not woo the voters back. So why not start the change now?
We need less wasteful public spending, lower taxes and proper backing of enterprise. That would be good economics and even better politics.
Without the strivers and savers, winning an election will be unlikely.
I see that the Government is cannily wanting tax rises mainly by stealth.
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They let inflation do the work of taking more tax off us by not increasing the tax-free allowance and the bands for higher rates.
That way they avoid a Parliamentary vote on the issue at a time when many Conservative MPs, including me, have no wish to put up people’s taxes.