Over the last couple of years the economy has been teetering on the brink of recession, not least due to the pandemic crisis/farce and cost the government/Taxpayer something like £400bn of QE – a massive and unexpected debt that the government could have avoided and let the economy tank into the deep ocean.
Had they done this Labour would have probably criticised them for not showing any compassion/support for small businesses and ordinary people generally.
As it is the government did resort to hacking down a few money trees in order to prop up the economy and help businesses and the nation as a whole. But typically, Labour came out, took the opposing view and attacked such “reckless spending”.
Rightly or wrongly, the government were damned if they did and damned if they didn’t for that unexpected and prolonged global crisis. And now the nation faces another crisis, or rather two in fact – The cost of living and energy.
In the old days of true Conservatism, the Tory party would rarely intervene in the free markets or the state itself, usually following the economic theories of Milton Friedman. But these days we have seen the Conservatives wade in with billions of pounds it doesn’t have in order to spike/cap/control the energy market, which is currently going into freefall due to various well-reported reasons.
It has also seen fit to offer considerable financial support for people facing a cost-of-living crisis, as well as making tax cuts and NICs to basic tax payers and removing the 45% top rate tax band (since abandoned – Day Admin).
The thinking behind this is that if people have more money in their pockets they will spend/invest more and thus stimulate a weakened economy, as well as boosting tax returns to pay for those very same tax cuts.
A year ago I can recall quite vividly calls from the Labour Front Bench that the government needed to cut taxes, cut NICs and offer more support for the poor and those on very low incomes in the face of those two crisis I spoke about earlier.
The former PM, Boris Twatface, wasn’t very forthcoming in offering much support in terms of fiscal policy; but under Truss and her clueless Chancellor,we have seen the direct opposite – slashing taxation (especially for high earners) and boosting financial support for all.
Despite this Labour is still slagging them off, not least for the removal of the 45% tax band. Hardly a murmur of support for the cuts in basic tax rates and NICs, as well as intervening in the markets. Instead Labour moan about the tax cut for the rich.
Perhaps Labour needs to look at itself, especially in terms of expense claims. Angela Raynor, for example, claimed almost £200,000 between February 2001 and January 2022. Or how about Chris Elmore £265,000, Khalid Mahmood £254,000 to name but a few.
Doesn’t seem to matter what the Tories do – even to the point of intervening in the markets and offering massive state aid (the sort of things Labour of old used to do) – it will never be enough for those Labour cunts.
And even though they have a massive lead in the polls it will be interesting to see what they do should they come to power. Will they, for example, reintroduce to top tax band, will they increase the basic tax band? Will they cut their own expense claims? Will they continue intervening in the markets?
It’s oh so very easy to criticise when you’re in opposition. But quite another when you’re in power and faced with trying to appease everyone and having the money to do it.
Nominated by: Technocunt