Big Dog - Going, going, not quite gone. Thread 14.

[Notonthestairs]

Will it be Continuity Truss or "Socialist" Sunak in charge?

Good news. I have just heard the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on the radio, who I am sure said that there would be soon announced a plan for reducing the debt in the medium term. Which as far as I understand these things means that in a year or two he intends to raise taxes.

Mr Kwarteng also warned that if growth did not go up to 2.5% then it would be "much harder for us to pay for public services and to generate tax revenue to pay for the services we all want to see." More on the Six O'Clock News @BBCOne in a mo.

twitter.com/chrismasonbbc/status/1573356815479459842?s=46&t=Jf32QWL2a6STsqe6jKNDrA

So we can afford tax cuts and the borrowing necessary to make up the loss. But we might not be able to find money for public services.
Marvellous.





Apologies- trying to link this!

twitter.com/mikegalsworthy/status/1573363362737668096?s=46&t=Jf32QWL2a6STsqe6jKNDrA

Statement from IFS.

First comment.

"It's a cocaine fuelled budget."

They obviously watched the queens funeral too!

"They obviously watched the queens funeral too!"

FWIW I am not as convinced that KK was on drugs. I suspect he was receiving text messages from Johnson (who was sitting almost directly in front of him).

Well surely this is much of the underlying point of all of this. The Tories will cut spending on areas like the NHS and social care and then tell us to fund any necessary care we need from the marvellous tax cuts we’ve received. See also Education. They’re pushing the self-destruct button.

*care we need ourselves

Well, it’s served its purpose.

Bit of a coincidence with your username theskyisfullofbirds, the RSPB is not happy

⚠️😡Make no mistake, we are angry. This Government has today launched an attack on nature. We don’t use the words that follow lightly. We are entering uncharted territory. Please read this thread. 1/13
twitter.com/RSPBEngland/status/1573366815568580613?t=z-qnzSvr8MvscR3gMUem-A&s=19

I agree that the Red Wall has served it's purpose. They are clearly focusing on the Shires & London.

How many Red Wall seats have they got?

Labour lost 47 seats. No idea if they were all red wall.

"In 2012, Kwasi Kwarteng wrote for the @iealondon that there should be a legal requirement to balance the “structural” budget every single year. This is the precise opposite of what he has just done. HT @PickardJE"

twitter.com/peston/status/1573397556159283207?s=46&t=VwZESng9huPcg3_zJLR4sw

Yes, but that was in 2012, ten years ago. Much has changed since then, the situation is completely different because of the decisions made by the previous government.

I'm contemplating writing another letter to my MP for her to ignore, but, right now, I haven't got a clue where to start. It's a clusterfuck of much magnitude.

I see. Man of principles. Many, many principles. For other people.

It's so odd. People trumpeting a pure Conservative budget steadfastly ignoring the borrowing.

Maybe the daily Mail might bring up the borrowing figures ? .. not holding my breath

Borrowing is good. Didn't you get that memo?

Ah yes. Borrowing is super cheap and likely to drop further. It has no impact on spending on public services whatsoever.

iea.org.uk/blog/a-british-debt-brake

Interesting reading from Kwarteng for the IEA.

For some reason it won't let me copy paragraphs for you to read...

Britain should copy the Swiss. Once the structural budget has been balanced, we should pledge to keep it that way with our own debt brake. Of course, no fiscal rule can perfectly predict the future. However, they can counter our focus on the short term. In good times, we should be balancing the budget and paying down the debt. That way we can be better protected when the next crisis arrives.

My mistake! It did (partly) allow me to c&p.

Peston

A Tory ex minister: “what worries me is never again will we be able to accuse Labour of being fiscally reckless or believing in the magic money tree. This better work, or we are in deep trouble”.