The Chancellor will have have more money to play with than was forecast. How he uses these additional resources will tell us a great deal about his priorities.
This can give the Tories a tremendous advantage in a democracy because the public, as a whole, does not have fixed views either.
I cannot envisage the circumstances in which those at the top of the NHS agree to divert a higher proportion of the Levy to care.
There is nothing for productivity growth, ageing, minimum wage hikes, tailoring care to individual needs, or councils’ incentives to build more homes.
“The state should target its help at protecting people against the catastrophic fear of losing everything to pay for the cost of their care”.
The cat of Tory tax rises has fewer than nine lives. Especially if these breach manifesto pledges and are generationally unfair.
“We are determined to reform the social care system. No proposals have yet been published…I don’t want us to run ahead of ourselves.”
It would help to level up places struggling to keep pace with the UK’s most prosperous locations.
Sunak & Co show no sign of setting their sights on getting it down.
Doing more to incentivise recruitment is not only good for the Armed Forces, but benefits the rest of society too.
Plus: Johnson’s sub-optimal Brexit trade deal choice. I’m not dreaming of a normal Christmas. And: green jobs – overall, a cost not a benefit.
He must ensure that taxation supports viability before he can start to focus on balancing the books.
The Treasury should hold one as the year rolls on, along the lines of that undertaken by Canada’s government during the 1990s.
A major part of the problem is high tax rates driven by borrowing for higher education courses that they’d be better off not taking.
What if we had given workers on furlough the chance to do R&D for their companies instead of being paid to simply not work at all by the Government?