28 May 2024, 08:07

By David Buik

Political battle has commenced here in the UK!

With just over 5 weeks until the General Election on 4th July, all the political parties, especially the Tories and Labour, have now selected another gear, attempting to get their message across, whether it be ‘change’ for Labour or ‘fear tactics’ from the Tories, scrapping for dear life from Scotland’s SNP or just negative input from the peripheral parties, who just loath the Conservatives.

Most observers think Labour are a ‘shoo-in’ after 14 years of Tory rule, with the last half dozen years having been hopelessly disruptive, much of it down to the damage the pandemic inflicted on society.

Consequently, there has been no growth to speak of in the UK. Ironically the outlook looks a bit brighter in the next few months, surprisingly eclipsing many EU countries’ forecasts.

This missive is not meant to be political, though it’s hard not to make some political observations in the current era of uncertainty.

The one issue that sends warning bells to me is that whichever political party prevails on 4th July, neither Labour nor the Tories seem to have any money for their plans, unless they throw caution to the wind and forget fiscal discipline by borrowing more, or of course, increasing taxation.

Tory ministers would throw their hands up in horror at such a suggestion and insist cutting taxation, especially national insurance contributions are ‘high priority’, though noticeably no time frame.

In the same breath Sir Keir Starmer and Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves say they have no intention of increasing taxation on working people. What does that mean? I am a working person!........

© LBC