Britannia Radio

AN EMERGENCY PLAN THAT CAN HELP

SAVE BRITAIN'S ECONOMY

Only a blinkered fanatic could claim that we gain from membership of the European Union

Monday 10th October 2011

By Leo McKinstry

THE skies over the British economy are darkening.

Growth has stopped, the banks are in crisis and the eurozone is heading for catastrophe.

As living standards continue to fall the dole queues lengthen.

This week unemployment is expected to reach its highest level for 17 years.

In the face of this deepening crisis the coalition seems powerless.

For all the synthetic outrage from Labour and the trade unions about so-called “cuts” the Government has done little to tackle the state’s colossal liabilities.

Public spending is now significantly higher than a year ago and, even under the misnamed “austerity” plan, our national debt will balloon from £940billion in 2011/12 to £1,500billion in 2015/16.

Other measures smack of timidity or contra- diction. Printing more money, as the Bank of England is now planning under the deceitful tootle of "quantitative easing", will boost inflation.

Similarly another round of bank bailouts will just increase our debts.

Cocooned in their metropolitan, politically correct bubble, divorced from struggling businesses and families, Government ministers cling to an expensive, failing status quo rather than contemplating tough action.

If the economy is to be rebuilt then the coalition has to be far more radical.

The interests of the British people must come first, not those of pressure groups or the self- serving political class or professional subsidy junkies.

Here are 10 steps which could revive our fortunes, increase our competitiveness and stop the nation living beyond its means:

1. Reduce the costs of the public sector

The state machine swallows around half of all economic output in Britain.

That is unsustainable, especially as so much of our sprawling civic bureaucracy operates in the interests of its staff rather than the public.

The Government has to sweep away widespread over-manning, inefficiency, excessive sick leave, managerial empire-building and gold-plated pensions.

2. Reform the welfare state

It is grotesque that in a ferociously competitive world we have an unaffordable £200billion welfare system that
encourages people to be idle or irresponsible.

We spend £13billion on incapacity benefit when all tests show that around 80 per cent of claimants could work.

Entitlements to social security for the able-bodied have to be cut to break the cycle of dependency.

3. Abandon the green agenda

The Government’s environmental policies represent a triumph of ideology over the national interest.

Thanks to the obsession with cutting carbon emissions and promoting “renewable” energy such as wind farms, our industries are being destroyed and our utility bills and petrol prices hugely increased.

Ministers should move in the opposite direction by encouraging cheap energy, particularly through innovations such as the use of clean coal and shale gas.

4. Withdraw from the EU

Only a blinkered fanatic could claim that we gain from membership of the European Union.

Our exit would save £17billion in annual contributions to Brussels and businesses would be liberated from the straitjacket of excessive regulations.

Talk about the threat to our trade with Europe is just scaremongering.

After all, 70 per cent of Switzerland’s trade is with the EU but it remains independent.

5. Freeze immigration

It is the economics of the madhouse to import labour while paying five million Britons of working age to remain on the dole.

While 90 per cent of net new jobs go to migrants we have no hope of ending mass unemployment.

The 600,000 immigrants who come here every year also impose an intolerable burden on our public infrastructure, especially the benefits system, the NHS and education.

A temporary freeze is the only way to stop this.

6. Abolish foreign aid

The bill for overseas aid will soon be £13billion, more than five times what we spend on our prisons system. Yet much of this money is squandered through fraud or spent on countries that do not need it.

In recent years we have given £900million to India, a nation with more billionaires than us.

7. Bring back national service

This week youth unemployment will almost certainly reach the highest level ever.

The reintroduction of national service would give young people a sense of purpose.

It could be paid for by cutting the top heavy senior ranks of the armed forces (we now have more generals than operational tanks) and by bringing troops home from places such as Afghanistan.

8. Cut taxes

One key to growth is to enhance the power of consumers but that cannot be done in a climate of confiscatory taxation and rampant inflation.

Even those on average incomes have to hand more than a third of their earnings to the state.

We should use some of the savings from the EU and foreign aid to slash VAT to 15 per cent and reduce income tax on the working and middle classes.

9. Boost capital spending

Capital expenditure creates not only jobs but also assets. Money saved above could be used on building homes, transport links, utilities and prisons.

10. Reduce the burden on businesses

Enterprise is the real engine of growth but it is strangled by red tape and state cash demands.

Ministers must free up businesses, not only by reducing corporation tax but by also tackling anti-competitive employment rules such a those on diversity and maternity leave.