The OBR’s horrid forecasts of an output implosion and soaring unemployment will do nothing to quell Tory resistance to tougher Covid tiers.
It’s baffling why think-tanks are taking the OBR assessments as truth, given its prediction record.
It’s vital that on education, policing and infrastructure, as much clarity is given as possible to departments as possible in terms of long-term funding.
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.
These are my starters for ten – so it’s over to you. What are the biggest choices? What are the problems that we have to get ahead of to keep afloat?
If if the higher education sector must take some further pain in the spending review, then the last option is the least bad.
The last few months have shown the public that, if there’s political will, the deficit no longer matters – a dangerous precedent.
The first group of savings are about making the state more efficient, the second about creating a state focused on the core tasks of government.
Rob Stark meets a bloody end in Game of Thrones. But he won every battle he fought first – and the Greater Manchester Mayor is following his example.
The volte-face that he is currently trying to manage in seeking to defend a Withdrawal Agreement that he opposed is farcical.
Consequently, our third and most important priority is the vigorous pursuit of growth – set our country on a path of solid and sustained expansion.
The Treasury should hold one as the year rolls on, along the lines of that undertaken by Canada’s government during the 1990s.
Modest consolidation over decades is one thing; large increases over a Parliament would be quite another.
Before pumping more funding into the public sector, we must restore the habit of making sure we have the money in the bank before we start spending it.