Comment
DAN WOOTTON
We must kickstart our plummeting economy or face the stark choice of austerity or tax rises
PUT the unnecessary hysteria about slogans and cleaners and park meetings to one side for a moment – our economy is in deep trouble and it’s far worse than even the pessimists imagined.
That’s why we are collectively trying to get back to work today and, if we're in a position to do so, should try and stimulate the economy in whatever ways we can.
DAN WOOTTON Fear could do more damage to the young than the coronavirus
As official figures show the economy slumped by 5.8 per cent in March, treasury papers leaked to the Daily Telegraph last night have shown quite how severe the financial devastation could end up.
In the budget in March, a £55 billion deficit was forecast. That’s already blown out to £337 billion.
But if our economy doesn’t rebound it could increase further to £516 billion this year and £1.2 trillion over five years. That’s why the onus is on us to some extent to spend money where we can as soon as we can if we can.
As it stands, entire industries are on life support. Rishi Sunak’s eye wateringly costly extension of the furlough scheme until October may have only delayed mass redundancies.
So please understand why folk like me are calling for young people who are at a minuscule risk of serious illness from Covid-19 to be let out to fire up the economy as soon as humanly possible.
Regardless of how business comes back, the government is facing a horrible choice Boris Johnson never wanted to have to make.
He either returns to the A-word (austerity) which he has refused to even utter in public recently.
Or he breaks the Conservative election promise on the triple tax lock – a pledge not to increase income tax, national insurance or VAT.
But the Treasury has given the government another option: Introducing a surcharge tax, specifically to pay for the NHS and social care.
The consideration within government will be whether that is potentially more palatable for a public so heartened by the performance of the health service during this crisis and so devastated by the way the epidemic has ravaged care homes.
None of the options facing the Prime Minister are good ones.
Polls show the public remains supportive of Boris personally overall. They understand this is not a crisis of his own making, but rather one he’s having to deal with because of terrible practices by the Chinese government.
But tough choices regarding future taxation and protecting our prosperity will have to be made – and soon.
Topics