They filled their fat greedy faces with our money, now they say we live in a fool’s paradise and it needs to be paid back by us.
Senior cabinet minister Simon Clarke has warned: Britain has lived in a “fool’s paradise” for too long and must reduce public spending to help to fund the government’s £45 billion worth of tax cuts. The levelling-up secretary criticised the “very large welfare state” and said Whitehall departments would have to “trim the fat”.
Following on from Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s tax-cutting mini-budget, Simon Clarke, the levelling-up secretary, spoke of trimming the fat as he expressed his worry over how the ‘extremely large’ state will align with a lower tax economy.
It has led to fears another period of austerity is just around the corner, with the hardest hit likely to be those reliant on welfare.
In their letter to Mr Kwarteng, Welsh Finance Minister Rebecca Evans joined finance ministers from Scotland and Northern Ireland in highlighting the profound impact of “the largest set of unfunded tax cuts for the rich in over 50 years” stating it was “a huge gamble on public finances and the health of our economy”
They warned against being condemned to another decade of austerity and expressed deep concern over reports that UK government departments would be asked to make spending cuts to balance the budget, which may have profound consequences for devolved budget settlements already eroded by inflation.
But Mr Clarke told The Times: “Western Europe is just living in a fool’s paradise whereby we can be ever less productive relative to our peers, and yet still enjoy a very large welfare state and persist in thinking that the two are somehow compatible over the medium to long term.
“They’re not. We need to address that… if we want those strong public services then we are going to have to pay for them.
“It is important that we look at a state which is extremely large, and look at how we can make sure that it is in full alignment with a lower tax economy.”
We can translate that to: “The wanton greed and profligacy of the oligarchy have created crisis after crisis and once again they will be bailed out with public money while those at the bottom will pay through Austerity.”
This is no fool’s paradise, the truth is much worse, we have always known how bad things are.
The audacity of Simon Clarke’s statement gives us all a heads-up on where this government is going. There has been no hiding the fact, through their short-sightedness, poor legislation and pandering to the markets that this has brought about a constant attack on the working class, no, it’s no fool’s paradise, it’s just run by people who take us for fools.
Successive governments have used crisis after crisis to squander public wealth, dipping their sticky fingers in the public coffers. It’s happened again and again, from bailing out the bankers under Labour to the state theft of billions by the Tories during covid. Now we are all destined to suffer austerity on steroids.
They are blatantly cutting the tax rate of the top earners while being arrogant enough to suggest that the people at the bottom will have to be the ones to carry the cost. At the same time as we all suffer, Bankers will pop the cork in celebration of every bonus they are given while the financial houses will role in profit from extortionate interest rates on mortgages people can barely pay, for the homes they can no longer afford to heat.
This is Tory Britain, this is no fool’s paradise, this is the realisation that the mainstream parties give the people no hope!
You can see the arrogance of Truss and her government as they attempted to reassure the markets and their own MPs after such a disastrous first week in government, we have seen the pound fall to a record low this week and the Bank of England was forced to make a £65 billion intervention in the bond market, then the BoE increased interest rates which ultimately will only add to the burden of every household and business in the UK. None of this will have any effect on the greedy Energy companies who have created this cost-of-living crisis throughout Europe, the energy companies are the reason inflation has reached over 10 percent.
Asked on Friday whether she accepted this was a crisis of the government’s own making, the prime minister said: “It was very, very important that we took urgent steps to deal with the costs that families are facing this winter, putting in place the energy price guarantee for which we’ve had to borrow to cover the cost… but also making sure that we are not raising taxes at a time where there are global economic forces caused by the war in Ukraine that we need to deal with.
“I recognise there has been disruption. But it was really, really important that we were able to get help to families as soon as possible.”
Truss and Kwarteng met top officials from Britain’s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) on Friday.
Mr Kwarteng intends to publish an updated set of economic forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and a medium-term fiscal plan setting out how he plans to bring down government debt on 23 November.
It does make you wonder how much people are prepared to tolerate from governments that are supposed to be working for us and not the markets. You can get an indication that something is about to pop when you see the pools and voting intentions.
A YouGov poll showed that half of all Britons (51 per cent) think Liz Truss should resign, including more than one-third (36 per cent) of 2019 Tory voters.
The poll of 2019 Tory voters found that Liz Truss was just the slightly more popular option to be Prime Minister than Keir Starmer – and that Boris Johnson is the best candidate.
A poll from The i revealed that almost half of all Conservatives voters in 2019 have now abandoned the party.
Only 54 per cent said they are still a supporter of the party, 15 per cent admitted to switching to Labour and just one in five approve of the ‘mini-Budget’ overall.
Following the market chaos, Labour took a previously unthinkable 33-point lead over the Tories in the polls, alarming many Conservative MPs. Which in any other circumstances would be good,
We’ve got to the point where the Tories are so bad it’s making the other Tories under Starmer look good.
Or as one Tweeter, Matt Thomas said:
“It must be nice being a Keir Starmer fan and seeing him ahead in the polls, a bit like entering Masterchef and winning with a Pot Noodle.”
It must be nice being a Keir Starmer fan and seeing him ahead in the polls, a bit like entering Masterchef and winning with a Pot Noodle.
— Matt Thomas (@Trickyjabs) September 29, 2022
However true, I’m with Asa Winstanley on this when he says: “I wouldn’t want Labour to win on an old-fashioned right wing platform. Even if I thought it was the route to victory, I wouldn’t take it.”
I wouldn’t want Labour to win on an old-fashioned right wing platform. Even if I thought it was the route to victory, I wouldn’t take it.
— Asa Winstanley (@AsaWinstanley) September 29, 2022
For me at this moment in time my vote will be none of the above when it comes to the mainstream Parties, we have to show our disapproval in some way, maybe voting in younger parties and independents will send a message to the political class they have to listen to, and let’s face it can they do a worse job?
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