The Labour government had no choice but to raise taxes for we have been living in cloud cuckoo land for far too long.

The UK has massive backlogs of repairs to hospitals, schools, courts and roads. Local authorities are collapsing. Armed forces can’t recruit not least because living accommodation is in desperate need of repair. Local authorities are having to cut vital but not legally required services, not least in community and youth services. We were woefully ill-prepared for Covid, having cut all available corners from PPE stocks to care home resources. Add to this a cost of living crisis with food banks stretched to the limit. 

In the aftermath of the Second World War, the UK was becoming just another medium sized nation dwarfed by the superpowers but with leaders of both political parties who could not shake off their sense of this being the mother country of an ‘Empire on which the sun never set’. This has meant that public expenditure has always been distracted by a defence commitment that was disproportionate. Not only was it disproportionate, it was woefully inadequately funded and so endangered our young men and women.

Our public services are stretched beyond endurance, yet we are the sixth wealthiest country in the world and the former government hinted of tax cuts! Here is a link to an article post budget which explores the detail. Brexit has critically damaged our economy  

We are living in cloud cuckoo land. 

Where has that money gone?

Part of the answer is the obscene gap between rich and not even poor but most people. The wealth of the rich is not employed productively but is invested in overpriced dwellings which aren’t even occupied. Austerity and an insane dash for growth through unfunded tax cuts have compounded the problem  

The Labour government has its green investment plan. This investment is fundamental to both our green transition but also industrial renewal and making good our infrastructure. We need a focus on manufacturing to create a sound economy.

If we don’t manufacture, what of services? Financial services don’t rate highly when British companies choose to list in New York over London, but then the city has never really supported manufacturing as I argue in this link where I explore the history of the relationship between UK finance and manufacturing.

Brighton Pavilion, shown in the post, was a symbol of the glamour of Victoria’s reign and is now undergoing urgent repairs – perhaps a metaphor of these times.