How to Fund a Relaunch
Gordon Brown is about to begin his latest relaunch. (Is this number 7? 8?) But, as with all of his previous attempts in the last 15 months, a relaunch will be extremely costly for the public purse. Joey Jones, on the Sky News Blog:
Imagine you’re Alistair Darling. Right now you’re need cash for all this…
-The anticipated u-turn on vehicle excise duty.
-The 10p tax compensation package (funded by borrowing for now, but that’s not a goer forever.)
-And now of course Gordon Brown’s make-or-break/last ditch/not a relaunch, honest/”we feel your pain” energy giveaway.
Now don’t forget, the Treasury is shorter of cash than it would have been having cancelled the 2p rise in fuel duty. And it’s widely understood other taxation revenue is drying up.
So how to pay for the splurge upon which Gordon Brown is pinning his hopes of remaining in Number Ten? Goodness only knows….
The government tried non doms…. then retreated. They tried capital gains tax reform…. retreated again….
So who else has got deep pockets?
Political parties ravaging the economy to protect their own backides is nothing new. But in Brown’s case, the economy is being ravaged to keep his backside in the Cabinet Room despite most of its other occupants wishing it were not there. Apart from being disgustingly selfish, this is simply bad government. I do not begrudge paying tax, but I think it should be spent sensibly. To see Brown borrowing money that my generation will be paying for, at inflated rates, just to stay in office for 18 months longer - that’s a disgraceful misuse of an election mandate.
If only I could believe that any of the opposition wouldn’t do the same…