So you don’t believe they should start by saving the billions they waste? They will never have to when there’s people like you willing to give them more money to piss up the wall.
I often wonder how much a government waste? Some of the vanity projects are ludicrous. Original estimates were around £38bn, for the Birminham leg of HS2. Likely more like £65bn now. Is the waste £65bn, or £27bn? £65bn in my book. Stupid project.
That said, what real difference would it make. £65bn over how long? 2009 was when the first projections were made by Gordon Brown. We are 15 years on. So that is £4 and a bit billion per year wasted? Wouldnt mind it back, but I wonder how much difference we would see each year?
We spend c£1200 billion each year on the core services, like NHS, social security, education etc. Half of the total spent on those 3 things alone. As a % of GDP that has remained broadly static, exceptions being WW2, Spanish Flu, Covid, where reasonably spending had to increase. This relationship with GDP is where economy becomes tricky, in my opinion anyway. In the last 70 years or so spending on social security has doubled as a % of total budget. Our biggest spend item is health and is growing. Partly this has been offset by a reduction in defence spending over those 70 years. Now of course govts are in need of increasing spending commitments on defence such as via the NATO commitments, or simply down to what happens globally (yep, those silly global factors again) with Russia etc. If we spend such big numbers on our core spend, would savings of the HS2 type make a step difference? I dont know, but it seems improbable. Now I of course want the money better spent but I doubt savings like that are enough.
Raising tax receipt income appears necessary and inevtible to me. We raise c£1100 billion in tax income. Half of that is via income tax, NI and VAT. I find it hard to see how we dont ask folk to pay more, as costs on health and social security will continue to rise.
Ramble over.
