Post by jonksy on Sept 19, 2023 5:52:39 GMT
Labour will leave our country far worse off than it was when they got in. Hindsight can prove that.
Labour's legacy of red ink
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Looking at a trajectory of public finances, former PM Tony Blair argues that, if elected. Keir Starmer would confront a much worse economic situation than that which he inherited from John Major in 1997.
Deficits and debts mean that even the last of the Leftist forces in Starmer's shadow cabinet are on a tight leash.
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner declined to defend the 'triple lock' on the state pension, arguing that her party would not make 'unfunded' promises. One knows what she means but as the UK's state pension system is unfunded anyway her answer was gobbledegook.
Similarly, Labour's energy overlord Ed Miliband has been put back in his box by shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves over the pledge to invest/spend £28billion a year in turning the UK into a green energy superpower. Budget constraints mean the investment will not be rolled out until halfway through the next parliament – if at all.
Labour is sensible to hold back on the fiscal promises, given that the UK's net debt to output or GDP ratio, as measured by the IMF, is a projected 95.1 per cent this year. The opposition blames the Tories for this.
Yet closer examination of the public finances since 2007 shows that the crisis began in the aftermath of the great financial crisis, when Gordon Brown was PM and Alistair Darling the chancellor. In 2007, ahead of the banking bailout, the ratio of Britain's net debt to GDP, was a German-like 37.19 per cent. By 2010, when the coalition took power, it had zoomed up to 66.9 per cent.
Deficits and debts mean that even the last of the Leftist forces in Starmer's shadow cabinet are on a tight leash.
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner declined to defend the 'triple lock' on the state pension, arguing that her party would not make 'unfunded' promises. One knows what she means but as the UK's state pension system is unfunded anyway her answer was gobbledegook.
Similarly, Labour's energy overlord Ed Miliband has been put back in his box by shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves over the pledge to invest/spend £28billion a year in turning the UK into a green energy superpower. Budget constraints mean the investment will not be rolled out until halfway through the next parliament – if at all.
Labour is sensible to hold back on the fiscal promises, given that the UK's net debt to output or GDP ratio, as measured by the IMF, is a projected 95.1 per cent this year. The opposition blames the Tories for this.
Yet closer examination of the public finances since 2007 shows that the crisis began in the aftermath of the great financial crisis, when Gordon Brown was PM and Alistair Darling the chancellor. In 2007, ahead of the banking bailout, the ratio of Britain's net debt to GDP, was a German-like 37.19 per cent. By 2010, when the coalition took power, it had zoomed up to 66.9 per cent.
