The level of denial currently gripping the British public is such that what ever this new government does it will find itself lambasted by voters and considering the nature of the coalition the Chancellor may find himself coming under even greater pressure not to address the looming fiscal crisis. Once again everyone is choosing to live in the world they wish they lived in rather than in the one in which they actually do. When George Osborne announces exactly where 6.billion pounds worth of spending cuts will be coming from there will no doubt be a great deal of crying and wailing and gnashing of teeth from a good many quarters. But what people should really be ringing their hands in despair over is the fact that 6.billion will be an insignificant drop in a deficit ocean of 163.billion pounds worth of national debt that the economy is about to drown in.
During the election campaign Labour and the Liberals were complicit in conspiring to further the lie that what was more important than facing up to the pending deficit crisis was continuing government borrowing so that elaborate top heavy welfare systems could be fed with more cash and those on the payroll of bloated bureaucracies could be maintained. They scorned the Tories as the enemies of the British public, eager to slash spending on vital public services so that they could push down taxes for their wealthy landed friends from Oxford and Eton, so the Lib-Lab chorus claimed.
Furthermore now that Labour is out of office there have been further revelations of how Gordon Brown’s government not only caused the deficit and dismissed its importance but that in its dyeing days it wrecked the public finances further in a desperate and selfish attempt to maintain itself in power. In addition to the publicly known about deficit billions more were frittered on secret contracts targeted in Labour’s marginal seats; £600 million on a computer contract here, £13 billion on a tanker aircraft programme there. The legacy that New Labour has left Britain with is criminal.
During the election campaign Labour and the Liberals were complicit in conspiring to further the lie that what was more important than facing up to the pending deficit crisis was continuing government borrowing so that elaborate top heavy welfare systems could be fed with more cash and those on the payroll of bloated bureaucracies could be maintained. They scorned the Tories as the enemies of the British public, eager to slash spending on vital public services so that they could push down taxes for their wealthy landed friends from Oxford and Eton, so the Lib-Lab chorus claimed.
Furthermore now that Labour is out of office there have been further revelations of how Gordon Brown’s government not only caused the deficit and dismissed its importance but that in its dyeing days it wrecked the public finances further in a desperate and selfish attempt to maintain itself in power. In addition to the publicly known about deficit billions more were frittered on secret contracts targeted in Labour’s marginal seats; £600 million on a computer contract here, £13 billion on a tanker aircraft programme there. The legacy that New Labour has left Britain with is criminal.
The British public must now recognise exactly what they are facing. Britain currently stands with the largest budget deficit of any developed country in the world: larger than that of Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and America. And even if the government manages to achieve its projected reduction in the deficit Britain will still maintain its position as the worst offending economy in the G7. With a deficit of 11.6% of GDP Britain must accept the necessary cuts in public spending and worse still the inevitable tax rises. Voters can punish the Conservatives at the next election if they wish but like it or not they are the only Party who may just about have the courage to take the desperately needed action.
No comments:
Post a Comment