Liz Truss is jump-starting our stagnant economy with tax cuts & sanity must prevail over mini Budget
Time for calm
IT is time for sanity to prevail over the mini Budget and the turmoil that followed.
Most of the same left-wing politicians and pundits who campaigned to oust Boris Johnson are now convincing Britain that Liz Truss’s tax-cutting amounts to clueless right-wing extremism.
Don’t fall for it.
Our overall taxes have not been higher in 70 years.
They were lower under big-spending Gordon Brown. Was he secretly of the hard right? No.
Do crazed right-wingers borrow vast sums to protect millions from soaring energy bills, as Truss is? No.
Do they trim 1p from basic-rate income tax, or reverse a misguided National Insurance rise, to put more money in workers’ pockets? No.
Truss is copping flak because she has realised our future depends on urgently arresting decline by jump-starting our stagnant economy via lower tax and less regulation.
The Left is aghast.
The markets panicked and spooked the public.
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But it’s mainly because Britain is trying to do this first.
If the strategy boosts growth, other major nations will follow suit.
Make no mistake, most are at least as deep in the same economic mire.
The EU, especially its powerhouse Germany, is in huge trouble and facing blackouts.
And, while we feel for everyone fearing a rise in their mortgage, rates in the US are much higher already.
Given their own problems it is laughable to hear both countries attack our strategy.
Much of the tumult here was worsened by the Bank of England’s sluggishness in tackling inflation long before the mini Budget and in calming nerves afterwards.
But, that said, Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng made two big errors:
Not having firm costings from the OBR, which we need urgently.
And failing to sell his deal to the financial markets — which had been unprepared for measures such as the abolition of the 45p top rate of tax, never mentioned once by Truss during the Tory leadership campaign.
No10 compounded its woes by failing to fight its corner most of this week, leaving a vacuum for its critics — naturally given 24/7 airtime by a breathless BBC.
It is vital it now gets on the front foot to promote relentlessly the mini Budget’s many positives.
Some will be seen before long in pay packets too.
Power play
WE must cut our energy use this winter.
Confusion over the Government’s price cap is not helping.
It aims to ensure a typical annual bill does not exceed £2,500.
It does not limit bills to that amount, allowing us to turn up the thermostat to tropical heat levels.
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The Government needs to launch a public information campaign to stop energy being wasted.
Without that, Putin’s war brings the threat of blackouts closer here too.