Aug 08 2007
The Economic Policy Review
I have clearance to launch the Conservative Economic Policy Review Report on Friday August 17th.
The background to the Review??published last January but largely ignored at the time needs restating.
The UK is falling behind the more successful economies like the USA, Ireland and the the rest of the Anglosphere. We have higher business and capital taxes and higher regulatory costs which are holding us back, allied to a relatively unsuccessful monetary/fiscal policy mix(interest rates/budget deficit)??which has now given us higher interest rates and higher inflation than most of our competitors. As a result 5.4 million people of working age do not have jobs, our growth rate is well below Ireland’s and the US, and we have lost 1 million manufacturing jobs in the last 10 years.
The UK is suffering from very inadequate infrastructure, despite high levels of public spending. The big increases in public spending have not bought us extra railway or road capacity, extra water supply or better flood defences, enough skilled technicians or more people with science and maths degrees.??Nor has government kept our energy supply up to the level we need. I have been highlighting some of the deficiencies on these webpages in recent weeks.
The purpose of the Review will be to show that policy change could tackle these issues. The UK does not have to accept a further slide down the league tables of competitiveness. To do so will??sentence??too many??people to joblessness, and??force more businesses to closure or??investment abroad.
John Redwood has been the Member of Parliament for Wokingham since 1987. First attending Kent College, Canterbury, he graduated from Magdalen College...
JR:
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Some light reading for next weekend then - I’ll look forward to it.
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Dear John
We are very much looking forward to the forthcoming Review. At last something that will appeal to grassroots Tories such as Jean and me.
Fan of yours for years on matters EU.
Best wishes
Harry & Jean
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According to the Sunday Telegraph today:
“As a “last resort”, the document says, Britain should legislate at home to “disapply EU regulation unilaterally where we think its is against our national interest”. Such a course of action would set up the biggest conflict between Britain and Brussels since the UK joined the Common Market in 1973.”
Inevitably also huge fines which surely we would be obligated to pay under the various treaties? Is it therefore envisaged that the fines would gather enough outrage that the 1972 act could be scrapped completely?
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Congratulations John on your work today getting the story across about deregulating parts of our economy. You say, I think, that business will save
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