The Emperor Has No Clothes On!

For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, busy with this very thing.

Romans 13:6

We are in election season and the recent by-elections appear to be good news for the Labour Party. The Conservative (Tory) Party is, arguably, the most successful political party in the world in the modern era, which, when you come to think about it, is surprising! How is it that so many people have had the wool pulled over their eyes for so long?  The Tory boast is that they are the party of economic competence and it is the stick with which they regularly beat the heads of the Labour Party, and people are convinced. How do they do that? It seems to me that it is a very modern example of the Emperor has no clothes on!

The fundamental dogma of the Tories is that taxes should always be reduced, nothing else is as important as this. Never has this been more clearly demonstrated than in the debacle of Liz Truss’s short-lived premiership. But it continues to be demonstrated in the present Chancellor’s teasing of tax-cuts, all-be-it far less dramatic, for the coming election. The cutting of taxes is the be-all-and-end-all of Tory economic policy.  But if you only, and continually, cut taxes then where is the money coming from to pay for schools, hospitals, roads, railways etc.? The Tories appear to have three answers to this: first, grow the economy; and then, in the meantime, spend less  and  borrow more – borrowing is at its highest since World War 2. It is an inevitable consequence of the latter two that public services will, in the end, deteriorate as less and less money (in real terms) is made available to public services and more and more money is needed to pay the interest on loans. The first is interesting in that it is essentially a religious response, a prayer to the god of economics! And who knows how that will work!? So, we see huge waiting times across the NHS; literally crumbling infrastructure in our schools; increasing backlogs in the courts, fewer and fewer lawyers willing to do legal aid work; not enough housing for the population; social care that is all but non-existent, an antiquated public transport system, armed forces not fit for purpose, more and more people turning to food banks – the list goes on!

Economic competence is about ensuring that all the services required to maintain a healthy modern social order are present and work well. This is exactly what the Tories have failed to do and this is not an accident but the inevitable consequence of a fundamental dogma that taxes must only be reduced, never increased. The Tories appear to have convinced the British public that they are competent by reducing their headline taxes. But they have failed to ensure effective public services in every area of life. The Emperor really has no clothes on!  

Does this mean that the Labour Party has it all figured out? Watch this space ….!