Abolish VED (car tax) and put it on petrol. It can’t be dodged, which VED. Saves all the costs of employing people on a ‘make work scheme’

Nick

“Gordon Brown answered my question in a measured and thoughtful way.”

John, how could you be so gullible. It is obvious to anyone that he has, no doubt very expensive, advisors and coaches to try to improve his image. You have fallen for it. Our PM is a cunning inept politician who is not fit to run anything let alone a country.
Get a grip.

As regards the Scots – the Tories don’t get half the votes anywhere, neither do Labour & both are relying on a bit over 40% to get a majority of seats. The SNP have undoubtedly picked up a lot of votes which elsewhere would be Conservative now but though the party has managed to alienate itself from most of the people that does not mean that on isues we differ much from the English. In my opinion the proportional system in the Scottish Parliament gives an opportunity for the Scots Tories to establish a strong, though not majority, position by adopting less consensual policies than Mr Cameron finds necessary. Particularly since the other 3 parties share a big government social democratic agenda. They have not done so.

As a historical note the Conservatives are the only party to have had over 50% in Scotland since the war, in the 1950s. The last peacetime government to have had over 50% in the UK as a whole was the National government of the 1930s.

Pass a law that says no taxpayer’s money goes to organisations that have not passed an official audit.

The second part of the law, is to make it illegal to allow this to go on when it involves UK tax payers money.

If the EU complains about it, we just start extraditing them under the European extradition treaty. Jailing a few EU commissioners, Kinnock springs to mind, head of the CAP being another, will quickly bring about a resolution

Reply: How right you are – the changes to the professional civil service have weakened it.

Also, are you really saying that the Scots are half Tory?

“Cut interesrt rate to 2.5%”, so sterling plummets, costs rise again and up goes inflation. In addition, we have huge debts, government and private, low interest will only make this bad situation worse.

“Reform CAP”; This is an EU competance and we cannot alter it, the French, Germans, Italians and Spanish will not hear of taking their easy living away from them. It was, after all brought in to give French and German farmers the chance to scupper British farming, it worked too.

Keep up the good work though.

Regarding Scotland’s inherent socialism: Reform has, over the years, done many regional opinion polls & it turns out that the Scots average about 3% to the left of the UK with the interesting exception of whether cutting business taxes would stimulate growth where we are more supportive. 3% is both small & explicable by the fact that we are a bit poorer. The business tax is explicable because we take more notice of what goes on in Ireland. Most English & indeed most Scots think we are more leftist purely because of the destructive influence of the FPTP electoral system which gives the impression that we all vote Labour merely because only Labour MP get in while everybody in the south of England is assumed to be Tory for the same reason.

Although there are many things going against Mr Brown there are three big hurdles for the Conservatives: (i) they require a big swing to gain power, (ii) the SNP are the most likely beneficiaries of an anti-government mood in many Scottish constituencies and (iii) David Cameron is young and untested in government.

The second factor affects the first and the third affects the second. A seat gained by the SNP from Labour must be balanced by an additional gain by the Conservatives elsewhere in order for the net effect to be a gain for Mr Cameron. It is inevitable that some seats which might have turned blue had the SNP been weak will instead turn yellow.

The youth and inexperience of Mr Cameron might contrast well with a jaded and broken Prime Minister but it does not play so well against a vigorous and tactically astute Alec Salmond. Mr Salmond can and will continue to play the anti-Westminster card to great effect, thereby increasing further the likelihood of former Labour voters turning to his party.

It should not be overlooked that Mr Salmond is promising “money for nothing” in his stated desire to grab as much as he can from North Sea oil. I believe the economics of this to be nonsensical but it is a great vote-winner especially among those who previously supported Labour.

In addition to the economic lesson Mr Brown should learn from Glasgow East (and I agree fundamentally with your analysis) he must also learn that the mood in Scotland appears to be far to the left of his current economic policy. Were he to learn the economic lesson he should not expect it to reap dividends north of the border.

Having said that, I was mildly surprised by some of your options.

Firstly the issue of private finance of infrastructure projects. In my personal experience this is licensed theft. Taxpayers are already paying £500 million p.a. in rent for Hospitals, to private companies. Now, in itself, this is nothing bad. What is bad is that these hospitals are built like portakabins and run by cowboy concessions. We will still be paying for them when they are being pulled down. Believe me, Mrs Weasel (Dr Weasel, if you must) works in one.

Secondly, your recommendation that interest rates should be cut to 2.5%. Are you seriously trying to ruin my continental holiday?

I also wonder if these measures are a bit short-termist. Whilst encouraging businesses by cutting tax is tempting, surely it would merely lead to recklessness. Wouldn’t a better solution be to encourage research and development and proper apprenticeships? These are necessarily long-term fixes, but I am sure you know as well as I do that the problems we have in the economy are down to the government’s policies of changing the goalposts every five minutes for business. We can’t pull the economy out of this in a year, or two or three. I believe that the way to deal with our economic problems is long term and ideological, rather than short-term and political.

These are only the ramblings of a credulous bystander, but it’s the best I can do.

Reply: Thanks for the comments. I am not recommending private finance for public projects – I am recommending private projects where the risk is taken by the private sector. Additional roads should be toll motorways paid for and run by the private sector. New power stations will be private sector assets, where the risks are run by the shareholders. I agree about the dangers of some PFI/PPP approaches.
Interest rates have to come down. The housing and mortgage markets are killed by the current combination of high rates and weak balance sheets. You do not have to keep your money in sterling if you think other currencies will do better.

I think the expression in office but out of power sums up the impression of Brown and his administration.

I would love to see a Prime Minister or Cabinet member brave enough to say to the press “Yes we do have policies and plans to deal with the situation – and these will be put before Parliament shortly. Until then I will not give you any details.”

Put the government back into Government if you wish to be taken seriously. I would sooner support a party with concrete plans I don’t fully agree with (remember Thatcher!) than a party with glib words but no idea.

Yes, I do like your plans for getting GB out of the hole. I suspect that hospitals and GPs do need to computerise more (for the patients benefit, not the organisation) but do not need an interlinked all-singing all-dancing system. There is plenty of off-the-shelf software available – it just does only 90% of what is wanted. But better to get 90% cheaply now, than 100% expensively, much, much later.

That’s why people are pissed off with politics, and give politicians quite rightly a kicking on the few occasions they are asked. Particularly when politicians are lining their own pockets, and incompetant.

This is the main reason why things have moved to special interest groups.

Nick

Following the Conservatives dismal performance in Glasgow East, I’ve paraphrased the opening paragraph of your piece 11.7.08 ‘The English Democrats get it wrong again’:

‘The Tories get it wrong again’

‘What is it about the Tories that they revel in almost losing their deposit in a Scottish by election? Why on earth did they stand in the by-election, only to be hammered again?’

The Tories haven’t a cat in hells chance of getting any serious representation in Scotland and yet your leader continues to pander to Scottish voters. When it comes to England he backtracks on the promise to take the WLQ seriously. Ken Clarke’s proposals are an insult and yet DC seems to go along with them. I am mystified.

Reply: Silly comment. The Conservatives do win seats, the EDs don’t.

You make the point that the Glasgow East By Election will escape the analysis of the Tea Room etc. in the House of Commons. That is undoubtably correct. Yet I believe it will be the stuff of so many articles within the press over this weekend and the next weeks and months. That must be very good news for the Tories. It will mean that Brown will be on the back foot all the time, whatever initiative he attempts!

Whilst I agree with your analysis of what Brown should do. He will not. On point 1. The Unions will not allow him. 2-6 Fall because of 1. 7 Would Upset the French!

He has to be the most unpopular prime minister I have lived under.

You did not comment on the Lib Dems and the fact that they fell behind the Tories in Glasgow. Has Clegg’s bubble burst?

Reply: Yes, the Lib Dems are struggling. Elections are 2 horse races, and they are squeezed. When they are the 2nd horse, as in Henley, they flounder.

Wouldn’t this require the Chancellor to assume control of setting interest rates again?

Reply: Or use his influence with the MPC who will get the idea sooner or later that they have to fight recession.