A cornucopia of gifts to Labour tumbled out of Downing Street during the official mourning period. The royal order was “no politics”, and yet there was constant news of policies from the prime minister’s desk, leaks deliberate or malign. As one eccentric and unspeakable new plan followed another, Labour’s frontbench steadfastly obeyed the mourning rules with every lip zipped.
But that’s over. A rush of announcements this week will probably reveal these perverse policies, mostly unpopular, even among Tory voters. Strung together, Liz Truss’s remarkable list of free market, state-shrinking, deregulation, anti-nanny state ideological totems show her to be a conviction politician of striking recklessness.
It’s unlikely that such a series of policies will arrive. But Polly T could get very surprised by the support if such did.
I rather like the sound of those polices. More, please.
I like the sound of “conviction politician”. Sentences to run consecutively.
“The trouble with the state is it’s too damned small”, said no taxpayer ever.
Looking at the policies proposed I doubt anyone will
Mourn the ‘Sugar Tax’ other than people who would rather boil their head than vote Tory. I think lifting the cap on bankers bonuses is politically ill timed. What’s interesting to me is that the policies strike me as fairly tame. Where’s the querying of militant sexual deviance and the pushback on ‘wokeness’ which will leave the Hard Left high and dry?
lifting the cap on bankers bonuses is politically ill timed
More bank profits going to bankers is better for the tax coffers. Especially if it means bankers move to the UK.
I see what you mean about the hysteria over such tame policies, but hysteria is the left’s default position.
MC
I agree economically it is a sound policy but its very easy to misrepresent and given the coming power outages and even possible food shortages as a result of (among myriad other errors) the proxy war in the Ukraine then giving highly paid people more money will be grist to the left wing mill..
anti-nanny state ideological totems
If “Nanny State” had positive connotations there would be a more positive way of expressing it. Logically the objection here then must be to ideological totems and consequently that Liz Truss needs to do more.
When a banker gets a million quid bonus how much does he get to keep? If he spends it, how much gets spread around after tax?
With a million quid pre-tax income you’re getting towards the 50% tax area.
The Money Saving tax calculator says that with an income of £1,000,000 you are left with £529,000.
It’s mostly tinkering round the edges though. Scrapping the sugar tax or bonus cap isn’t going to solve the UK’s productivity shortfall.
The news on fracking and North Sea oil & gas is more welcome. But it only gets us back to where we were pre-Ukraine invasion.
Baby steps, AndrewM, baby steps…
Andrew M—Bankers’ productivity should increase.