I’m going to say something which may well get me a good telling off. There is something oddly reassuring about John Healey.
His demeanor is very much that of an experienced accountant, with his bald head ricocheting light around the room and his thin framed glasses akin to when your dad sits down of an evening to do the crossword. Call me naive, call me part of the ‘uniparty’, but I for one would let the old chap sort out my tax returns and what not.
My endearment may well have reached its end point, however. Speaking in Coventry yesterday, the Chancellor outlined that Britain’s economy is “turning a corner” and, in a moment which seemingly channelled Peter Mannion, announced a series of measures which would help transform Great Britain into ‘Growth Britain.’
Now, despite what the naysayers may argue, I’m not one to bash Labour simply because they’re Labour. There were some half-decent ideas put forward in Healey’s speech. He acknowledged that the system has been “gummed up by overregulation” and promised to take an “axe” to litigation, bureaucracy and red tape which had had a strangle hold on growth for far too long.
He insisted that ‘economic potential analysis’ will become a fundamental part of Treasury decision-making, with places not assessed on “where they are today, but where they could become in the future.” Hell, even the first question he took was from a third year apprentice called Faith.
Unfortunately, however, the niceties ended there, for Healey made no mention of the real problems facing Britain. He opted not to mention how the government would bring down the ever-ballooning welfare bill, nor did he rule out further tax hikes in the upcoming Autumn Budget. Combine this with an inability to discuss how defence would be properly funded, and Healey was left looking a little out of his depth.
The Chancellor repeatedly showed either an inability or indeed an unwillingness to even float the idea of making such difficult decisions at the Despatch Box. Perhaps he felt that if he just dangled the keys adorned with “growth in every postcode” loudly enough, the public would forget about the prospect of forking out yet more dosh to the Exchequer.
Take welfare spending, for instance. From when Labour took power to the end of this Parliament, welfare spending is expected to increase by roughly £93 billion. The problem, which Healey and his entourage of Mandarins seem not yet to have realised, is that £93 billion is rather a lot of money. So much, in fact, that tax rises ad infinitum probably won’t do the trick.
He may choose to increase Capital Gains tax here, or raid the coffers of high street gambling companies there, but there will come a point at which he runs out of road. And yet the Chancellor seems blinded to such an inevitably, believing instead that we can carry on as we are, blissfully unaware of the fiscal reality that is fast approaching us.
But whether it’s ignorance or ineptitude, perhaps the most insulting aspect of his speech was his inability to take responsibility. “Johnson’s hard Brexit” was said to have “hammered goods’ exports” and Cameron’s austerity was the cause of hollowed out public services. Meanwhile, “Liz Truss’ Mini Budget crashed the economy and collapsed confidence in Britain’s fiscal strength.”
Labour, of course, were cleared of all wrong doing. Don’t you see! Everything that is wrong with our country is because of that guy who was PM 16 years ago! It smacked of desperation. Of passing the buck merely because the team in red don’t want to be the ones to deliver the bad news. Sorry gents, but that’s what you signed up to when you went into Government.
But maybe, just maybe, that was the intention of the speech. Healey set out the problems plaguing Britain and how, under the fiscal rules imposed by Labour’s 2024 Manifesto, such problems are unsolvable. As others have aptly noted, it seems as though Burnham is using this as the platform for a possible snap election.
He is positioning himself as a Prime Minister who is eager to solve the big issues of the day, whilst simultaneously showing himself to be hamstrung by his party’s previous commitments. It gives him the perfect excuse to turn the country and seek a renewed mandate in the Spring of 2027.
Irrelevant as to whether Healey and Burnham are using this as a means to pull the trigger early, the Chancellor’s speech still failed to calm the nerves of the British public. He wanted to ease their fears, showcasing that a Treasury under his command really won’t be that bad. And yet, in failing to address the rather pricey, welfare-shaped elephant in the room, he did the opposite, because now the British public are left wondering where he’ll come snooping for the next quick cash grab.
You may well hate the Tories. You may detest everything they stand for, believing them to be nothing more than the ‘nasty party’ who do all manner of Satanic-like things in their free time. But at least they are willing to say what others aren’t. At least they’re willing to diagnose the problem rather than hide behind feel-good soundbites. And if you’re after someone who can balance the books and manage the economy, that’s what matters, right?