TELEGRAPH 2.6.09
We all want to get back to business but we need an election first
An alphabet soup of lobby groups were yesterday reported to be
alarmed at the "distraction"* of the MPs' expenses scandal.
*[who's doing the distracting? Why the Telegraph of course -cs]
By Damian Reece
the future of Parliament, that should be the centre of Government's
attention. They're wrong.
Obviously there's nothing more frustrating for a political lobbyist
than when the people you're lobbying stop listening. But before
Parliament can attend to such crucial business as the economy, it
needs to get its own affairs in order.
Any Parliament that wants to be taken seriously about fixing the
public finances needs to have in its tool box the ability to cut
public spending and/or raise taxes, however unpopular those measures
might be. Can anyone seriously tell me they think the current
Parliament retains the moral authority and legitimacy to put forward
measures between now and an election that demand cuts to spending or
increases in taxes?
The disdain with which MPs of all parties have treated taxpayers'
money to line their own pockets makes this impossible. After what The
Telegraph has revealed over 26 days, could Alistair Darling, or his
likely successor Ed Balls, tell us not to worry, "your money's safe
with us"?
No economy can be helped by a government or Parliament that has lost
its basic fiscal authority. That's the issue that needs fixing, not
industrial policy.
It's true, people in business are distracted by the MPs' expenses
scandal. This is because they are utterly gobsmacked by MPs' claims
which would have resulted in summary dismissal if submitted inside a
company. That's why the authority of all MPs has been compromised and
only an early election this autumn can change that. [This may be
industry’s reaction but they’ve been fed a diet of some truth,, more
half-truth and even more gross distortions of a despicable nature.
If you believed the Telegraph every MP has been fiddling the books,
whereas most have perfectly honestly taken the expense allowancesmade
available to them to provide a 2nd home. On election they have been
urged - not least by the Speaker, - to make full use of these
allowances. I personally stronghly disapprove of the system, but
that’s irrelevant. cs]
Many people in business might actually be relieved Parliament is
distracted from the economy. Labour took us into this recession with
a record public sector deficit having hit the private sector with any
number of anti-business measures. With public borrowing set to hit
12pc of GDP this year, and total national debt soaring to 80pc by
2013-14, it's not immediately clear to me what Parliament could do to
fix the economy anyway. The public finances are as good as bust.
[The first thing to do - and do urgently - is to cut borrowing NOW
before the debt becomes unmanageable, QE is not working as yields
are rising and if borrowing is not cut borrowing fcost will spiral
out of control -cs]
But don't forget that during May, as our shocking revelations [and
even worse, shocking distortions by irresponsible journalists -cs]
have emerged, the economy hasn't been doing too badly, thank you very
much. As we report today, the latest PMI index of manufacturing
activity improved again during the past month. In November it stood
at 34.9 (anything below 50 indicates contraction). It has now reached
45.4. A lot of this improvement is down to economic stimulus,
delivered not by tax cuts but by the Monetary Policy Committee's
interest rate cuts and a weak pound. [which strengthens by the day -
cs] May has also seen an end to falling house prices, for the first
time in 20 months. [one swallow doesn’t make a summer -cs]
Parliament may be in a state of paralysis but we still seem to be
rubbing along. Overseas, many UK-based multinationals enter talks
with foreign governments and companies alongside British diplomats.
The success of these talks can often depend on the UK's moral
authority overseas, that is being sapped by MPs' behaviour at home
[and by exaggerations and distortions by the Telegraph -cs] .
Business cannot be complacent. Its ethics remain under scrutiny and
every public company should be re-examining directors' service
contracts to remove extravagances. But the fact remains that
shareholders can remove directors more easily than we can remove MPs.
Once those MPs have lost our trust that situation is untenable.
Business needs an election before we can get back to business.
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