Anyone that was struggling to pay their mortgages would probably have been heartened in December last year when Gordon Brown said that the government were to introduce a new scheme to help them. Gordon Brown’s announcement even managed to upstage the Queens Speech. To be fair, Gordon Brown did say that the Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme would be available early in the new year, but a recent government update suggests that it will only be up and running in April. Surely this has got to be one of the cruelest things this government could do to people facing repossession? Does this man, Gordon Brown or New Labour have no sense of decency? In December, the government claimed that 8 mortgage lenders had signed up to the scheme, if true, why the subsequent delay, doesn’t this government understand the urgency of the situation for real people in trouble?

For a government that loves statistics, I wonder if they will have anyone calculate how many families will have lost their homes during the intervening period between the announcement and implementation of the new scheme? I very much doubt it somehow. People could have been forgiven for believing that the government, following the annoucement, had something ready for imminent launch. What was the rush for Gordon Brown, was he just chasing the headlines? It smacks of a cheap and wilful swipe at real people, in crisis…something that appears to have become the norm for New Labour.

To make matters worse, Cabinet Office minister Liam Byrne said the governments approach compared favourably to the Conservative Party’s “do nothing” approach. Is this guy on the same planet? Firstly the public are sick and tired of hearing government ministers and Labour MP’s constantly justifying their own failings by claiming that the Conservatives Party policy was to do nothing as if this was an acceptable excuse. Secondly, the Labour government appears to be incapable of understanding precisely how much they raise expectations when they make policy announcements and the level of disappointment felt by people when they find out that the reality doesn’t match up to the rhetoric.

Whilst I am not a great believer in government intervention, I do believe that if they make a commitment or promise, then they must deliver on it in timely manner and in accordance with the original announcement. That said, this government has rarely, if ever, lived up to any of its promises, it is time for a change and I suspect, the people that they are now disappointing, will be the very people that ensure they get it. I cannot wait for an election so that we can get rid of this incompetent, self-serving, spin loving, pathetic party and get on with repairing the damage they have cause and once again, get to the stage where we can call it Great Britain again. I suspect that it will take a long time to get things right, but at least we would have the comfort of knowing that a promise made, is one that they will do their damnedest to deliver.

Amongst all the dramatic events of this week, Gordon Brown has decided to announced a review into the cost of the final salary pension schemes offered to MP’s. Now, here is a man of action, we all know that when Mr Brown wants to grab the headlines with some ‘good’ news, he either announces a review or an inquiry. In the case of the former and, arguably the latter, nothing happens. In other words, say something, do nothing….the unnofficial cry of Gordon Brown and his Labour party.

Over the past 10 years or so, any final salary schemes within the private sector have had to be curtailed or withdrawn. In fact, some pension schemes have even collapsed completely because of the increased costs associated with Mr Brown’s tax attack on private sector and personal pension schemes. This tax grab has contributed in excess of £100bn to Treasury coffers over the past 10 years and ensured that many, many people that have contributed to pensions for most of their life, now have to struggle or rely on state handouts or means tested benefits. A real man of the people our Mr Brown.

Meanwhile, MP’s continued to benefit from what has been described as one of the best pension schemes in the world. Even taking into account that  our MP’s have a gold-plated pension scheme, the total cost is marginal when compared with the actual cost to the taxpayer of funding the generous, final salary schemes offered to public sector workers. The additional cost last year, to the taxpayers of this country, for the pension scheme our members of parliament enjoy was £12m. Quite a lot of money when you consider that this top up is paid out of future tax revenues, rather than an annuity. However, the estimated cost of the public sector final salary scheme is, by contrast, staggering and rising fast! 

Pension schemes for local government officers and MPs are funded but, five million people, including civil servants, teachers, NHS staff and members of the Armed Forces, are enrolled in schemes for which no money has been set aside. In 2006, the Government estimated the cost of these unfunded liabilities was £650bn, it has since been estimated that our public sector pensions deficit is £1,071 billion. Now that IS a big number!

According to the Treasury’s own figures, the annual cost of paying public sector pension schemes is 1.5% of GDP and this is expected to rise to 2% over the next 50 years. Lets put that into perspective, the annual cost to the taxpayer of these unfunded public pension schemes is currently £22bn, or if you prefer, equivalent to a reduction in direct taxation of 4p in the pound, or to put it another way, £900 for every family in the UK. But, over the next 3 decades, it is estimated by the IEA that this will increase to £76bn a year, enough to complete more than two banking bailouts or 250 new hospitals every year.

So, Mr Brown, lets see some action, not reviews. Yes, by all means he should tackle the issue of MP’s final salary pension schemes, but he must also, finally grasp the nettle in relation to public sector final salary schemes. A failure to do so will result in either, a significant increase in taxation or, an inability to honour the existing scheme. Average salaries within the public sector are now higher than those within the private sector, similarly pension schemes are on average, some 15 times more valuable within the public sector. 

Ultimately the taxpayer is expected to fund this financial burden, in addition to an ever increasing headcount within the public sector and it does not take Einstein to work out that it is simply not sustainable, in a booming, let alone a contracting economy. It is high time that public sector pensions were brought in line with the private sector, in terms of the type of benefits and the way they are funded.  It is time to act decisively, no doubt Mr Brown will once again, shy away from anything so commendable. Say something, do nothing

On my favourite subject of the moment, I have just realised that the topical topic of Gordon Brown’s “British jobs, for British workers, is a prime example of Gordon Brown’s propensity to ’say something, do nothing’.

When Gordon Brown inherited the top job, his grand-standing rhetoric included this statement that has now come to haunt him. His updated version of Buy British gave him the headlines at the time and, no doubt, also assisted him in the high personal approval ratings and a powerful poll lead. However, the British people have now realised that it was just that, empty rhetoric, a classic case of say something, do nothing.

I suppose commonsense dictates that we should all have known that this was not a promise he could keep, after all, it was against European rules and lets face it, no-one could or, more accurately, should have made that commitment. It is possible, that at the time, Gordon brown felt that he could do no wrong, we know after all, that he almost certainly believed that he could walk on water, but in his position he should have known better.

There are still many die hard Labour voters out there, but I suspect, many of them could see their jobs go to cheaper European labour over the coming months as companies struggle to make ends meet as a consequence of a global slowdown and lack of available credit. Finally, these supporters may start to realise that below the thin veneer, is cheap chipboard and vote this excuse for a politician out at the next election.

What is particularly galling about the situation at the Lindsey Oil Refinery is that, although it hasn’t been confirmed, it is highly likely these workers are being paid and taxed in Italy. Now if this is the case, it is not a level playing field and is, morally at least, completely wrong. I do not believe in protectionism, although I do believe in times of crisis, that we should consider some form of nationalism. That is both natural and has happened before. If the Italian’s were bidding for a contract, then the terms should have included a requirement that, at the very least, the workers were paid and taxed in the UK. Further, if the profit was being made in the UK, then it should have been taxed right here, at source. Had this been the case and, the bid was won based on a level playing field, then I suspect that the workers at the refinery would have had little to complain about.

What is disappointing however, is that Gordon Brown is now attempting to re-write history with the statement “When I talked about British jobs, I was talking about giving people in Britain the skills, so that they have the ability to get jobs which were at present going to people from abroad.” Clearly he is not adverse to insulting the intelligence of the British people. As I have said, say something, do nothing.

Now whilst Gordon Brown says that there is little or nothing that he can do to protect British workers, what we do know, is that this government tends to decide which rules they accept or apply. Take for example, cigarettes, Gordon Brown decreed that the maximum number that could be brought in per person, from European countries was 3,000. Yet the whole point of a European free trade market was that we could buy what we wanted and bring it back here without additional taxes or conditions. In similar fashion, the government has still to do anything about the ruling recently passed in the European courts in relation to this governments policies on the retention of DNA on innocent people.

This is a say something, do nothing government, lead by a man who is incapable of humility. We should steady ourselves, for over the coming months we will all become increasingly aware of just how full of rhetoric this government is and, inherently lacking in any real substance.

Whilst reading an article on New Labours plan for broadband over on the British Politics blog I was taken by acomment included in the post, not directly related to the subject, but it struck a chord with me. British Politics described New labour as the “say something, do nothing” party. At a time when Gordon Brown likes to continually accuse the conservative party of being the “do nothing party”, it crossed my mind about people in glass houses etc.

Now I don’t deny, as was stated by British Politics, that when it comes to spending our money, attacking our civil liberties or hiding their expenses from prying eyes, the Labour party is active, perhaps even enthusiastic. But, what about all of the other promises and commitments they have made over the years? This “say something, do nothing” party has, over the last 11 long years, consistently made promises and failed to deliver. They have enjoyed the publicity of one ‘policy initiative’ afetr the other, but conveniently forgotten to do anything many of them, or conveniently buried them when they couldn’t make it work.

New Labour ministers are for ever opening their mouths, before they have engaged their brains. The broadband promise is yet another example where Gordon Brown is trying to spin the subject matter for positive headlines, yet, all he has in the content of an interim report, there is little or no substance to it and no real financial figures. In fact, it is a perfect example of “say something, do nothing“.

After all, how can the government promise something that the commercial sector must deliver, how can the government determine a timescale with no commercial agreements, in fact, just what will the government be doing to deliver on this commitment, they won’t legislate for it? Well the the answer is simple…nothing. In other words, they are the ’say something, do nothing’ party.

This got me thinking, perhaps Gordon Brown should try a dose of his own medicine, after all, he started this whole thing didn’t he? I wonder how many other examples we could put together where Gordon Brown, Tony Blair or New Labour have said something and done nothing. One that immediately springs to mind, is the promise of a further 200,000 affordable homes by 2016. At this time, there are virtually no homes being built, much less, affordable homes.

But again, Gordon Brown basked in the glory of his own spin, promised 200,000 houses, even though his party were making a promise that only the private sector could deliver on. Remember, he did not promise social housing, just affordable housing. A perfect example of ’say something, do nothing’. I am certain that if we put our collective minds together, we could list dozens of other examples, please feel free! Perhaps we should also consider adding another tag to New Labour posts, ’say something do nothing’, it might even encourage David Cameron and the Conservatives to start highlighting just how many broken promises there have been under this government? Please feel free to post your responses below.