A Lib Dem Perspective September 2022 - A Nightmare on Downing Street

A LibDem Perspective

A Nightmare on Downing Street

Last night I had a nightmare. Two in fact.

First, I dreamed that after a campaign characterised by empty jingoism and false promises, the great British public had been persuaded to sever its long established links with its closest friends and trading partners, and opt for a world of increased red tape, increased barriers to trade, travel and employment, crashing exchange rates, and a seemingly inevitable drift towards Scottish Independence and Irish reunification. But it was surely just a bad dream.

Next came an even more outlandish nightmare. A tiny privileged minority had enthusiastically imposed on one of the world's greatest democracies an autocratic leadership, with unrestricted power to shower riches on their wealthiest supporters and donors, leaving my unsuspecting children and grandchildren to pay the bill. The undeserving masses were thrown the morsel of a small cut in their own taxes, largely negated by the failure to increase personal tax allowances or control food inflation, in the hope that this would distract their attention from the fact that 95% of the benefit of the unfunded largesse would go to the richest 5%. Despite the anxiety of all those struggling to pay their bills and feed their families, the cap on bankers' bonuses was eliminated, even though London already has over 70% of the European total of City earners over 1m euros.

But then I woke up. And it was all true, and even the International Monetary Fund was criticising the inequality of their plans.

The desire to increase productivity and output is of course laudable. But to pretend you can do this with virtually full employment already and strict controls on immigration; none of the promised trade deals with the USA and outright hostility towards Europe; interest and inflation rates rising; burgeoning red tape; exchange rates tumbling; doubts over our commitment to abide by international agreements; increasing unrest as workers' rights are attacked; no plan to 'upskill' our workforce - it is clear that this is a hollow ambition.

In addition to the £45bn of unfunded tax cuts promised in the non-budget, there are unfunded undertakings to increase spending on Defence, NHS and Care, Education, Transport- all on borrowed money, and with a promise of further tax cuts to be announced. No wonder their first act was to sack the highly respected and experienced Head of the Treasury, and refuse to allow the independent Office of Budget Responsibility to assess their plans. No wonder international markets have been spooked, seeing the exchange rate crash to historic lows, only limited by the expectation of further increased interest rates that will have a disastrous impact on mortgage payments. No wonder £500bn was wiped off UK stock market values in just a couple of days.

And no wonder I just want to pull the duvet over my head and dream of a better, saner, fairer world.

Cllr Kathryn Field