Tomorrow at Prime Ministers Question time, the opposition parties shall seek to raise the issue of the arrest of Damian Green. In particular, they will want to know how much advance notice, if any, government ministers or senior civil servants had and why the police were allowed to search Green’s offices? In doing so, they are expected to cite the fact that leaks are necessary if government is to be held to account, provided the information is not protected by the Official Secrets Act. Further, that members of parliament are entitled to have legal privilege between them and their constituents. All very noble, but it completely misses the point, the Damian Green affair was the result, not the cause.

Instead of looking at self-interest, our elected members of parliament, in government and opposition, must look at the laws they have been passed that have allowed this type of attack on our democratic process. The truth is, the opposition parties have been lead like lambs to the slaughter by this government, who have said, if you don’t support our draconian anti-terror legislation, then we shall publicise the fact that you are soft on crime or security. Like little lambs, instead of holding the government to account, the opposition parties went to the slaughter. In other words, they didn’t do their jobs, it is all very well bleating about holding the government to account now, but what have they been doing for the past 11 years?

What is needed is a complete review of the anti-terror laws that have been introduced under this government. Opposition parties must seek clarity on how these laws are being implemented and used against the original intent when the legislation was ’sold’ to parliament. Because I am certain, that no MP expected anti-terror laws to be used to sequestrate the assets of an otherwise friendly country (Iceland), but that is precisely what happened. The police and security services have demanded and received new laws that allow them powers akin to those of a police state. To date, unlike many police states, they do not torture those arrested, but with 30,000 tasers being order, perhaps that is just a matter of time.

Eleven years ago, the police would not have had the powers that were used to arrest Damian Green. Nor would they have been able to gather telephone intercept evidence without a judges warrant. That is no longer the case.

Damian Green should be grateful that the police did not believe that he was receiving information contained under the Official Secrets Act, because then, theoretically, he could have been detained without charge for up to a month, not 9 hours. That is the problem, the police and security services have been given massive powers over the people of this country, not targeted powers for wrongdoers, but blanket powers that can be used against anyone including MP’s. Whatever this government says, the police are a tool of state, after all, the most senior policeman in the land is not elected, he is appointed by none other than the Home Secretary.
The people of this country have seen a massive erosion of their rights, freedom and liberties over the past 11 years and this event has highlighted this. Even the ‘New Labour’ supporting newspaper The Sun, has finally determined that the state has too much power over the populous.

People that claim we are moving towards a police state are branded as nutters, yet Privacy International were moved to say of the UK ”The worst ranking EU country is the United Kingdom, which again fell into the “black” category along with Russia and Singapore.” And that our “identity scheme is still planned to be the most invasive in the world, highly centralised and biometrics-driven“.

This is what I said a month ago on the issue of government control:

The people of this country have had to endure an increasing level of state interference in their everyday lives, from 4.2m CCTV cameras, to chips in rubbish bins. With proposals that include a massive Big Brother Britain database which would store information on calls, text messages, locations, emails and internet browsing habits. Airport scanners which see though clothes, identity cards which include our most private and intimate details. Our children from the age of 5, will be monitored by the state to include their most private details such as details on their mental health, sexual health or any substance abuse treatment. The list is endless, as is the number of ‘agencies’ that will have access to this information, some 700 as last count!.

I earnestly hope that the opposition parties will take the wider issues into account. In other words, how we got where we are today, how and why the state and their agents have so much power, that people can be detained for a month without charge, have their email, phone calls, text messages and internet browsing habits, routinely captured and stored, their DNA taken and stored, even where no charge has been laid etc, etc. This has all been done in the name of fighting crime or terrorism, but what a price we have had to pay. Yet the terrorist threat has not been lessened and crime is not falling. All that has transpired is the police need less evidence to make a charge and have gained more charges to target the majority with. It is an appalling state of affairs in what has become Big Brother Britain. We need to reverse this situation now and there is no better opportunity than the Damian Green affair to widen the debate. Opposition parties must insist on a public debate on the issue of all the new legislation that has been introduced at the expense of our civil liberties, right to privacy and individual freedom.

How ironic that it has taken the arrest of Damian Green, the Shadow Immigration Minister to provoke David Cameron into describing the police as “Stalinesque“. Because his party has sat on its hands whilst this Labour government has consistently removed the rights and civil liberties of every single person in this country. What is Cameron’s problem, does he think he is a cut above the rest of us, that the draconian, Big Brother Britain laws introduced to control the citizens of this country shouldn’t be used against a member of parliament? Pathetic little man, it was Cameron’s job to keep this control obsessed government in check, he failed, now one of his minister pays the price. Bloody good job if this is what it has taken to wake Cameron and his party from their self-induced slumber.

For what it is worth, I completely agree, the police action was outrageous, but what did Cameron expect? On his watch, New Labour has introduced a raft of measures and legislation designed specifically to allow the state to control, spy and monitor every one of its citizens. This includes, but is not limited to tracking our vehicle movements through ANPR or CCTV cameras; indulging in recording, monitoring and commenting on our most personal details on a health service database; or having voyeuristic access to very email, text message and call we make. Then to compund this abuse of power by making the information available to up to 800 separate agencies, including private companies. Just yesterday, Jacqui Smith ordered 10,000 Tasers to be used against the people of this country, with the stated intention of arming 30,000 front line officers and barely a murmur from Cameron’s compliant party of opposition.

The police in this country have been given unprecedented powers, akin to that of a repressive police state, not the police “service” of a first world country and yet they are asking for even more. This government has pandered to their every whim, like a lovesick teenager, not the objective supervising team they are supposed to be. It was as if government ministers were in awe and the police no longer want to detect or investigate crime, preferring to monitor everyone and wait for them to make a wrong move.

Take a look at what has happened over the past 35 years in the police service. Foot patrols became mobile patrols, mobile patrols became poorly trained ‘plastic’ policemen. The ‘plastics’ were given uniforms that have been deliberately modeled to make it difficult to determine whether it is a PCSO or a proper copper. The traditional baton was enhanced with pepper spray, which is now going to be supplemented with the life threatening Taser guns. No wonder they need to go around in cars! Could Cameron’s Conservative party not see a pattern emerging here? If he is smart enough to be proposed as the next prime minister, why was he no so bright as to see what was coming, or perhaps he thought it didn’t apply to his sort!

We are told by government ministers that crime has been falling, especially violent crime, so why do the police have a need for such violent weapons to combat a smaller threat. News that every front line officer is to be provided with a Taser is unprecedented, what has happened here, have the police officers lost their bottle? There was a time when being a police officer meant you had to have courage, now police officers routinely hide behind their computer screens, desks and ridiculous health & safety rules that inhibit policing and risk to a level akin to crossing a busy road.

God forbid that police officers should have to leave their comfortable cars or offices to a investigate crime or risk getting hurt in the line of duty. What type of police officer feels the need to have an array of weapons which include a baton, pepper spray and a deadly taser gun before he or she will go outside and meet what is a relatively law abiding public? Under this government, the police have been allowed to determine which crimes they investigate, so for example, victims of burglaries and vandelism must accept a crime number, with no investigation. With very few exceptions, everyone that I know that has had to report a crime or interface with the police have come away appalled at their lack of commitment or unwillingness to investigating crime. The fact that anyone going to a police station to report a crime is expected to deal with a civilian is indicative of where the police have gone wrong. Bottom line Cameron, is the police service needs to be hauled in, they have quite simply go too big for their boots.

Gordon Brown claimed that his would be an open government. Whilst his ministers may not like the leaking of certain documents, if it is in the public interest, they should not be using the police as a weapon of state to punish those concerned. After all, if there was no national security risk, just a possibility of a minister being embarrassed or caught out in a lie, why the need for anti-terrorist officers. The claim that no minister knew the police were going to arrest Damien Green really pushes at the fringes of credibility.

But I feel the need to point David Cameron in the right direction. The problem is when government provides such a wide definition of a law. For example, Green was arrested on arrested on “suspicion of conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office and aiding and abetting, counselling or procuring misconduct in a public office“. Now that encompasses just about everything. By the same token, this government has used similar, broad definitions to destroy many of the civil liberties and rights to privacy of the individual in this country under the guise of anti-terror laws. Cameron’s party wanting to appear tough on crime and terror legislation have been compliant to the extent that they could be accused of being complicit in the whole sorry state of affairs.

Our police service now has unprecedented powers, passed to them by a compliant government, that was intent on achieving state control. Damien Green has now become a victim of Big Brother Britain, his boss doesn’t like it and neither do we! Perhaps Cameron and co, will now realise how the public feel about the removal of our rights by opposing new legislation and offering to repeal similar, uneccessary acts. I am personally delighted that one of Cameron’s MP’s has had the opportunity to feel first hand the affects of a repressive state.

News that Jacqui Smith feels obliged to order another 10,000 Tasers at a time when the government coffers are empty has to be worrying for the British public. Whilst we know that this government doesn’t really care about how much of our money they spend, because they can just put up our taxes, the timing is very interesting and surely cannot be a coincidence.

Alistair Darling has just announced that the government finances are in a complete mess (not his words of course), in fact, if the country was a business, it would almost certainly need to call in the administrators. The economic reality of this situation has already started to trickle down, resulting in higher taxes at a time when people can least afford it ( ignore the VAT stimulus con ), the loss of peoples homes, fewer jobs etc. A public backlash is almost inevitable, as soon as those that still insist on hero worshipping New Labour for ’shafting the rich’ realise that they too must pay a price. A very high one at that.

You might think that in a developed country, government would seek to reassure people and provide genuine support or advice at a time of national crisis. But there are two systemic problems preventing this. The first is this government has wasted so much of our money on social engineering projects and Big Brother Britain spying exercises, that there is nothing left. In fact it is worse than that, we have a massive public debt, over £1 trillion. So financial support is not a viable option, hence the reason this government introduced a ‘fiscal stimulus’ based on Alice in Wonderland economics, purchase taxes. If New Labour were serious about a fiscal stimulus package, they would have offered a reduction in direct taxation, which would at least be tangible.

The second issue is that this government has never engaged with the public. Instead they have bribed their own voters with tax credits and the like, whilst bullying all other sections of the community including business to pay for them. The Pre-Budget Report, was supposed to demonstrate that New Labour cares, but anyone with any nous will know that it is an elaborate con, all presentation and no substance….classic New Labour smoke and mirrors. The bottom line is we should always be wary of a government that wants to be your best mate when they have been shafting you for the past 11 years. In other words, this government only knows how to preach, bully, con and bribe. The government also knows that eventually, they will get caught out and that day is looming ever closer, so they must now return to type. Bring forward Big Brother Britain and force.

So what can we expect? Unlike 1984, we will not witness the police controlling protesters armed with batons and shields, instead, in Big Brother Britain, we shall have to contemplate our police force using Tasers against its own citizens. This is in spite of the fact that Tasers are claimed to have lead to the death of up to 300 people in America. They say timing is everything. Why else would Jacqui Smith place such a massive order for Tasers? It appears to me that they are anticipating some form of backlash and they intend to suppress it with deadly, uncompromising force. This will be no surprise to those that have seen the UK moving steadily move towards a police state, but for the rest and that will be the majority, it is likely to become something of a shock, no pun intended!

I have delayed writing about the Pre Budget Report because I was so angered by its content. Not so much for the state of the public finances, which most people expected, but the fact that we have yet another missed opportunity. The Gordon Brown touch was everywhere, because once again, it was about perception not reality and could never live up to its promise.

The principal part of this stimulus package was the reduction in VAT, which is estimated to cost £12.5bn over a period of one year. Which is what I shall concentrate on. Now, I would like to know how the government came up with a figure of £5bn, because we all know that sales are down, so is the estimate based on historical figures, or current sales? This is important, because the suggestion is that this £12.5bn is an injection of real cash into the economy, so a smoke and mirrors approach to presentation would just be a con and unforgiveable. Furthermore, if I had £12,5bn to spend I would have reduced direct taxation by 2.5% for a year not VAT.

VAT is a purchase tax, therefore in a sense, it is a voluntary tax and as a consequence no-one will feel any richer as a consequence of such small a reduction in retail prices. It is also essentially a luxury tax, in other words, it is added to non-essentials. Yes, I know that over the years this has been extended, but for the most part, it has to be remembered that there is no VAT on food, children’s clothes and so on. The VAT reduction would have had a direct benefit to people if it had been applied to fuel, but the government decided to raise duties to negate any benefit, they did likewise on alcohol, tobacco and spirits.

Many retailers have been offering massive sale offers, with cuts of up to 50% to tempt consumers to buy products in their stores, no doubt with differing levels of success. A reduction of 2.5% pales into insignificance set against this backdrop. Which is precisely my point, the VAT reduction had nothing to do with providing a fiscal stimulus and more to do with being able to brag about a big number, knowing full well that it would never cost as much as the forecasted figures. Moreover, it provided an excellent backdrop for the government to introduce new taxes on the basis that the ‘VAT holiday’ would have to be paid for.

Ask yourself this, if the government had £12.5bn to waste, why didn’t they put it straight into our pockets, by reducing income tax by 2.5%? A fiscal stimulus has as much to do with consumer confidence as it does ability to pay. If you want the public to feel wealthier, then the only way this can be done is by ensuring they have more  of their own money in their purse or wallet. That is tangible! But this had nothing to do with a desire to introduce a fiscal stimulus, it was only designed to con the British public into the believing the government were doing something. This will be an expensive failure because those that are in a position to buy products where VAT is applied will do so anyway and save 2.17%.  By contrast those that were not able to make the purchase will find that this 2.17% reduction will make no difference whatsoever.

Now lets take a look at another aspect of this ’smoke and mirrors’ tax con. The government has made this years increase in the personal allowance permanent and sold it as part of the fiscal stimulus. But all is not as it seems, because they had no choice. The only reason they increased the personal allowances this year was because of the last 10p tax con. They knew if they did not act to make this ‘tax concession’ permanent that they would have had a backbench rebellion which would almost certainly have lead to Gordon Brown being ousted in disgrace. Now that is almost a price worth paying!

Now here is the best part for the government. In exchange for introducing a highly questionable fiscal stimulus, in the case of VAT for just one year, they have been able to substantially increase their tax take. For example, the adjustment in duties to offset the temporary VAT reduction on fuel, tobacco, alcohol and spirits will remain in place after VAT has been put back up. So this is a very real and permanent price rise, not only that, it is worth remembering that the consumer always pays VAT on duties, yes, a tax on a tax.

Plus, they have announced an increase in National Insurance contributions of 0.5% on employers and employees. This will raise billions and is permanent! So, in comes the smoke and mirrors again, by setting this tax increase against the change in personal allowances, the government can claim that certain taxpayers are better off. But hang on a minute, the change in personal allowances was introduced because, according to the government, they made a mistake when they removed the 10p tax band, so this was only introduced to compensate for that error. In other words, it was already our money! Don’t think for one minute that this tax raising government don’t know that and so do the media, but they are so far up the backsides of the government, the media refuses to reveal the truth.

On top of this, the government have decided to introduce a higher rate of income tax and remove personal allowances for those earning more than £140k. This means that they will be £2,246.70 worse off in 2010/11 and £2,849.93 down the following year. Now many will say that doesn’t matter, because they are rich etc, etc.

But lets put this into perspective. Firstly, they already pay more tax in real terms than the average person, in fact someone earning £150k per year pays as much tax as 4 people on average earnings. Also, many, I accept not all, of these people are the very people that create employment and provide jobs for the rest of us. Often, they will have risked everything they own to set up a business which creates wealth for the country and jobs for the people. Under this government they have seen capital allowances slashed, corporation taxes on the rise, massive increases in business rates (money which is a direct taxation by the government on business) and now a much higher tax take from them in their personal capacity.

I do not and never would begrudge anyone earning those sorts of salaries where they have contributed to the wealth of this country by creating jobs and a contribution to GDP. Two things that are vital, no, absolutely essential to the wealth of every country in the world. We have already seen a number of companies moving their businesses to other countries, such as Southern Ireland, because the tax regime is so much better. Can you really blame them if they are hounded for being successful and punished with punitive personal and business taxes for creating jobs and wealth. We all need to get real, envy is a very dangerous thing and in this case, if there was an exodus of the very people that help create jobs and wealth, we would be finished as a first world country. This pre-supposes that we are not already as a direct consequence of Gordon Brown’s reckless mismanagement of our economy.

The other changes made by the Chancellor are hardly worth mentioning, because they are so insignificant… so I won’t. I will say this however, they Pre Budget Report produced virtually nothing for small and medium sized businesses. Given these account for 50% of our GDP and employs 12.5m people, this was a massive mistake and one we shall all be paying for over the next few months.

Never was there a greater need for an honest fiscal stimulus, but Gordon Brown could not resist conning the British public again. The VAT reduction had nothing to do with providing a real fiscal stimulus, because the affects have been so severely limited. Instead, he contemptuously used it to introduce massive tax rises, which were designed to allow him to claim that the countries tax receipts, PBR and balance sheet would not be as bad as would have otherwise been in future years. Alistair Darling even included an assumption that we would see strong growth in a little over a year, everyone knows that is justwishful thinking. Whislt no-one believes this argument it makes the government books look a little better. They have no shame.  As my old boss used to say, it is all jam tomorrow.

The most worrying aspect of all this is how many people actually fell for the biggest and most dishonest tax con in history. Gordon Brown and his motley crew make Robin Hood look like a philanthropist.

News that David Cameron has divorced himself and the Conservative party from Labour spending plans is both welcome and long overdue. As too, is the announcement, that the Conservative party supports a return to responsible public spending. However, once again, David Cameron talks prudence, but fails to provide any tangible suggestions, yet another missed opportunity and evidence of political cowardice. News commentators must be getting as bored as the public are of another soundbite which lacks any detail.

Sorry David, but it doesn’t take a genius to work out that government must live within its means, nor a rocket scientist to determine that anything borrowed today, will inevitably have to be paid back tomorrow. Now I know that Gordon Brown is too inept to gauge this concept, but the public, for the most part are not. As a consequence, David Cameron sounds like a preacher rather than a politician and is getting very close to patronising the public and that could be political suicide. Opposition parties must provide alternatives, not state the obvious. We all know what is wrong, what we need is to know that those people in a position to make a difference if elected, are full of ideas and initiatives, not just truth and consequence. We are adults Mr Cameron, don’t talk at us as if we are children, because it will cost you the opportunity to get into power.

David Cameron is petrified of identifying which areas would be in his sights if the Conservative party was voted in. The problem is, even though we know that Gordon Brown is inept and self-obsessed, he also comes across as strong, self-assured and as a leader. By contrast, David Cameron comes over as weak, scared of his own shadow and patronising. To lead, people must have the courage of their convictions, in life it is important, in politics it is essential. If Cameron does not tell us what areas will be targeted, the people of this country will be suspicious of him and he will leave a void where the Labour party can claim that the reason he is saying nothing is because he has no idea what he would do and/or he intends to cut so called essential services, such as education and health.

If David Cameron wants to dip his toe in the water, he could easily start with agreeing to shelve, or better still cancel many of the unpopular information technology projects this government has announced or are already underway. These include, but is not limited to the Big Brother Britain database estimated to cost the taxpayer some £12bn, this should be cancelled altogether, the NHS database, estimated to cost in the region of £32bn, must be shelved in the short-term and re-considered in the medium term, based on a genuine cost versus return basis. Other database systems, that this government has so badly commissioned, budgeted for and managed should also be shelved until such time as the economy recovers, this would include everything related to ID cards. The public would rather have tax cuts than a Big Brother Britain database, you don’t need a poll to tell you that!

There are also the costs associated with a bloated European Union and an overseas budget of some £5bn. None of these affect education or health, so no real political fallout. The LibDems have also suggested limiting the pension tax allowance for higher wage earners from 40% to 20%, maybe this has some merit. Tough, but perhaps for the greater good. In fact there are a whole raft of areas where this government has wasted and continues to waste taxpayers money and have nothing to do with health or tax.

There are other areas that a tough, conviction politician might also consider and that is the massive costs of the highly lucrative public sector, final salary pension schemes which are paid out of tax revenues rather than a pension fund. The bloated public sector, now home to 1 in 5 employed people, or the thousands of quangos that have been set up a government, drunk on massive tax revenues brought about by a boom and stealth taxes.

If the people of this country are to survive relatively intact from the consequences of this recession, then a fiscal stimulus is necessary, It is no good tinkering around the edges and there is no point in stating that “the cupboard is bare”. People must be able to eat, no-one will ever vote in a party that states that they must starve to death for their own good. A proper stimulus package, that includes a substantial reduction in direct taxation, even if it is short-term (2-3 years), is essential, it is okay to fund this through cuts, but whatever the medium term costs, the people of this country need this stimulus now, as do small business. There is no point in looking back at previous recessions, this one is different. More people are employed by small business than ever before, people have higher levels of debt than ever before, more people own their own homes, there are more people on pensions than ever before and the individual is taxed at a higher rate that ever before.

Small and Medium sized businesses need a stimulus package, thus far, the Conservative policies demonstrate a real ignorance of the needs of this sector, which employs some 12.5m people and accounts for nearly 50% of our GDP. Delays in paying VAT and small NI holidays are too little and will help no-one, it is tinkering, not encouraging. David Cameron needs to get down and dirty with small business if he is to understand their needs, not conduct a whistle stop tour for a TV programme. He needs to accept that he and most of his shadow cabinet know nothing about small businesses and their needs, but he cannot ignore such an essential part of UK Plc.

From an outsiders perspective, David Cameron appears to be hiding in Gordon Browns shadow, because he is so scared of his own. Cameron is intent on substituting rhetoric for policies, but what the public want to hear is, if elected, what will the Conservative party do for our country and the people of this country. Cameron is concerned that the Conservative party failed to win the past two elections because of their tax cutting policy, but that wasn’t the reason. It was because the public could see through the veneer, we could see that it was still a party that was not ready for government. I would not have said this 3 months ago, but today, I believe that in spite of the way Gordon Brown has destroyed this economy, he could still win another election simply because the Conservative party is too scared to tell us how they will get this country back on track and make a commitment to reduce taxes through a reduction is waste.

Gordon Brown has waged a vendetta against traditional Tory voters, so called middle income earners, they have been savagely and disproportionately squeezed for higher taxes. The highest earners have been left alone and the low income earners have benefited enormously. The balance has been lost, middle England has been shafted and Cameron needs to commit to redressing this imbalance. It is middle income earners that have paid for Gordon Brown’s social engineering experiments and it is middle income earners that will revolt against New Labour if there is a viable alternative.

A Conservative Party victory with a healthy majority is assured if David Cameron can commit to, and tell us how or when he will; return power to the people, by repealing the draconian, civil liberty busting, intrusive legislation that has been brought in by this present government., cancel the information technology projects that have been ill-thoughout, are way too costly and with questionable returns, address the thorny issue of public sector, final salary pension plans which this country cannot afford., reduce bureaucracy and the obsession with state control and voyeurism., address the issue of 2.5m people on long term sick benefits, deal with the situation where people are better off living on benefits than they are working and making a contribution, illegal immigration. There are a whole raft of policies that would, for the most part, receive majority support.

The Labour party has created a nanny state, where too many people are now reliant on state aid and support. Many believe it is a fundamental right, even if they haven’t contributed anything. Much is said about “free education” or “free health services”, it is not free, at least not to those that pay for it. Social responsibility is about encouraging people to stand on their own two feet, providing a safety net, not an easy opt out. There must be less state intervention, less nanny state and this will lead to a natural reduction in the level of taxes required to fund it. Cameron, you need to grasp the nettle, have the courage of your convictions and put a package of measures in place that reduces waste, reduces taxes, reduces state aid and above all reduces state control over its citizens.

If David Cameron cannot win an election in this current climate, then he never will, nor does he deserve to. If he is not willing to spell out his policies in detail, stand by them and sell them, then he should not be leading the Conservative party, he must stand aside and allow a real politician to take over. Cameron would not last 5 minutes in a real business, because no CEO would accept rhetoric over substance, ideas but no plan, smooth talk but a lack of backbone. David Cameron needs to learn to become a man, a leader of men and a politician who is willing to announce, stand by and sell his policies.

Unless David Cameron starts to put flesh on the bones, he will reach a point where no-one will be listening, Gordon Brown is shrewd enough to know that, he knows that Cameron will become his own worst enemy. Gordon Brown also knows, that fear drives politics, if the public fear that Cameron doesn’t know what to do, then they won’t elect him. If the public fear that Cameron’s policies are so unpalatable that he cannot outline them, then they won’t elect him and Gordon Brown will fuel that fear, by filling the void and telling us how the Tory party will cut services, such as health and education. David Cameron is being outmaneuvered by Gordon Brown and he can’t even see it, that is shameful, because the public want change, but we have to be able to see what that change is, before we can support it. If the public stops listening to Cameron and an election is called, then he will surely lose it and he would only have himself to blame, whilst the rest of us will have to pay the price.

Gordon Brown has been thrusting himself about the world stage as he tries, unsuccessfully in my opinion, to appear like a sort of financial guru. I honestly believe that many world leaders are laughing at him behind his back. Only someone as naive and self-obsessed as Gordon could run around having virtually single-handedly destroyed the UK economy and think he is King Economy. The man is a fool, but then most objective British citizens already know that. Anyway, let me get to my point.

As we all know, the Labour government spin machine always leaks its own announcements early so that they can guage ‘public opinion’, normally expressed by what the newspapers say (rather than the public), before making any final tweaks to their policy announcements. However, if the leaks are to be believed it looks, once again, that Gordon Brown is going to continue with his social engineering project, otherwise known as Robin Hood from Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.

It would appear that Gordon Brown does not believe that everyone is suffering as a consequence of his handling of the economy for the past 11 years and the subsequent recession. Oh, no, Gordon Brown from his taxpayer funded home in Downing Street, believes that it is only those on “low incomes” that are in need of tax breaks. What world is he living in? He has spent 11 years long years targeting so called middle income earners with his tax increases, using this section of the community to fund his extravagant, cost-loaded experiment to re-distribute wealth. Now having squeezed the middle income earners until they are bordering on relative poverty, he has now abandoned them, by saying that any tax breaks will be targeted at “low income earners”.

During New Labour’s reign, top earners have remained relatively neutral in terms of total tax take, low income earners have benefited dramatically through allowances, tax breaks and various forms of income support and middle income earners have been seriously and relentlessly shafted. Now, he has got away with it so far, because the golden goose did not really feel all the affects of his shafting, as a consequence of a booming economy and the relative wealth created by higher house prices. That of course is no longer the case. As the economy starts to contract, the golden goose is starting to feel the pinch and because they were the primary target for revenue raising, they are feeling it more than any other section of the community. In spite of this, Gordon brown in his cosseted environment, turns his back on the very people that have funded his social engineering experiements.

Now I know that Gordon Brown needs to guarantee his core vote, many of whom will come from the lower earners and rightly so, because lets face it, they have been the only winners over the past 11 years. But he needs to understand that it was the votes of the middle income earners that actually brought New Labour to power and that irony cannot be lost on this section of the community. Nonetheless, it is all a bit academic, because there is no way that Labour will win the next election, even if Gordon Brown went around at Christmas and gave every Labour voter a £1000, oh sorry, that is the plan isn’t it, hope I haven’t spoiled anyone’s surprise!

Now enough of my sarcasm. Gordon Brown does need to provide a fiscal stimulus and I believe that everyone is agreed on that, even David Cameron, it won’t prevent the recession, but it may create enough of an impetus to save a few jobs and keep some businesses going if correctly targeted. However, it would appear that Gordon Brown intends to offer tax breaks in the form of increased allowances for low earners only. No widespread stimulus, just a further, last ditch attempt at social engineering, except this time, he can’t take anymore money from middle income earners, instead, he has to borrow it. Worst still, one of the reasons that Gordon Brown prefers to offer increased ‘benefits’ is he can always exaggerate the numbers, but this is not the time for one of his infamous smoke and mirror exercises. The economy will only get a boost if the money is real and tangible.

Gordon Brown has repeated many times that this is a unique set of events that requires a unique set of solutions and I couldn’t agree more. But he is just promising more of the same, take from one section of the community and pass to another, except this time, he wants to store the cost, so that middle income earners can pay it later. The man is a fanatic, he quite clearly has an ingrained almost psychopathic hatred of middle income earners.

What is needed is a simple and properly funded fiscal stimulus, which benefits everyone, not one section of the community. Everyone is suffering from the downturn in terms of the increases in fuel and utility bills, council tax, caps on wages, reduced pension benefits, insurance costs, travel, shopping bills, job losses, the list is endless. They all need to be able to see the benefit of a fiscal stimulus and the best way to do this is a reduction in the basic rate of tax. Everyone knows that Gordon Brown always exaggerates the affects of any government ’giveaways’ whilst moving swiftly over the small print that invariably takes back any benfits, with interest, so the reality is, most people have learned not to trust a word he says. Therefore, he more than anyone, needs to ensure that any stimulus is kept simple and results in people being able to keep more of their own money. This is no time for treasury tricks.

He also need to offer targeted assistance to small business, they employ 12.5m people and many, as a consequence, will not have huge cash reserves, nor can they go to the bank or shareholders. He ignores this area of business at his peril, small and medium businesses generate nearly 50% of UK Plc’s GDP, not an area to be ignored.  David Cameron’s suggestions are weak and will offer very little assistance to small business, I have already outlined what I think needs to be done for small business in a previous post.

The bottom line is many of the problems we are facing today are because Gordon Brown allowed, (inspite of warnings about the risks), this country to continue a relentless boom on the back of easy credit and rising house prices. He could and should have done something about it, but he chose not to. Our economy was booming and the relative tax take was increasing anyway, still he opted to introduce many, many stealth taxes. Often, but not necessarily, disguised as green taxes, but invariably targeted at middle income earners. This was not enough for the man Brown, on top of all that, he increased public borrowing during this period, spending like a man possessed, not saving anything for a rainy day. He was reckless in his handling of the economy and he allowed the public to become reckless, by not introducing measures to cool,things down, because it would have been unpopular and inevitably, would have required him to reign in his social engineering project.

As a consequence of this mans actions, not only has his reckless behaviour virtually bankrupted this country, it also means that Gordon Brown owes a massive personal debt to the people of this country. He can start to pay that debt by stop trying to be clever and spinning the numbers. He can help redeem himself in part by offering an apology to the people he has shafted in is quest to be the hero of the low income earners, by introducing a universal 5% reduction in direct income tax. This must be funded through capital project cuts and a good start would be all of these unpopular information technology projects that are invariably doomed to failure, always have substantial cost overruns and in most cases are not wanted by anyone and in particular the public. He must also tighten his belt on other forms of government spending, just like everyone else has to do in difficult times. Government has become a very lucrative place to do business, because many of those charged with negotiating terms are no match for the very professional, highly paid, highly skilled sales people on the other side of the desk. This has to stop!

New Labour’s social engineering project was a failure in terms of value, although I do accept that low income earners are substantially better off than they were when New Labour came to power. However, were it not for a booming economy, it could have been safely argued that Gordon Brown actually reduced the gap between low and middle income earners so much that they the differences are no longer discernable. Because as he boosted income for low earners, he took this money of middle income earners, pushing one section up and the other down. This will become self-evident as the New Labour Boom turns to Bust. Thanks Gordon!

Regular readers of my rantings will know that I have argued strongly against a windfall tax on the energy companies, which I felt was, in effect, a tax on enterprise. I also arguedthat Ofgem should either do its job or if doesn’t have the powers, then it must be provided with them, given they appear to be acting as the energy companies lapdog, not its regulator.

However it is a two way street, the energy companies were quick to announce large scale price increases, in virtual unison, yet they are deliberately vague about when the prices will come down, even though wholesale prices are now precisely what they were, before we had to accept price hikes of around 40%. Apparently at their regular meeting Energy Minister Malcom Wicks and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband “demanded” that prices should be brought down. But the boy Ed, and that excuse of a minister Malcom Wicks, accepted assurances from the energy companies that they would “bring prices down as soon as they can“. Pathetic, weak and completely unacceptable, the ministers should be completely ashamed of themselves, that is not progress, it is the energy companies telling government ministers to bugger off and the minister accepting it, the ministers should be sacked, here and now.

Energy companies argue that the reason prices have not fallen already is that they purchase at ‘forward’ prices, fair enough, I can completely understand this logic, however, it also means that they know exactly when the new prices will kick in, so to tell government ministers and for the ministers to accept, that they can only provide a vague indication is nothing short of a scandal and a con.

Energy is an essential service, not an optional commodity that the people of this country can elect not to purchase, therefore, any company choosing to invest in our energy sector should act reasonably and responsibly at all times. That is the nature of the investment, a guaranteed flow of business whatever the economic picture, in return for a measured and consistent return for investors. Clearly they are not acting responsibly and that is why a regulator was put in place, but Ofgem is nothing short of pathetic, either in terms of their leadership and/or as a lack of meaningful powers, either way, they are a complete waste, in their current form, of taxpayers money. The only other support the public can expect is political pressure from the energy ministers, but Ed and Malcom could not negotiate their way out of a paper bag, they are nothing short of useless. Sending boys in to do a mans job at a time when the cost of heating is going to be critical to the well-being of millions of British citizens is so shameful, I genuinely cannot express it in words.

Gordon Brown should replace Ed Miliband and Malcom Wicks, here and now and replace them with people that will negotiate hard, not act as the industry’s whipping boy. The energy companies have be told, that they must produce evidence of what their current wholesale prices are and when they expect them to come down, the they must be ordered to provide an immediate and proportional reduction in consumer energy costs. If they fail to do so, they must be informed that they will face future price caps and/or a windfall tax, for any amount that exceeds their previous years profits. Ofgem must be given the powers and a management team that is willing to regulate the industry, not capitulate. I do not believe in state intervention, however, if the energy companies will not play ball and legislation won’t work, then we must nationalise this industry. It is simply too important to ignore and the public most certainly deserve better than Messrs Miliband and Wicks representing our interests.

Without wishing to be melodramatic, the reality is many people will freeze this winter because they can’t pay their energy bills, by abdicating their responsibility to the public, this government and their ministers will have to ask themselves whether they did as much as they could have done in the circumstances. By their current record, I would argue they have not.

I read a post on the British Politics blog which referred to the statement by an unamed bank official, on Channel 4 News, that “banks were not charities”. Now I agree with the original posting, that it is a bit rich that the same people who came with their begging bowls for a bailout, should now, having received what they wanted, make such a statement. On top of that, they threaten not to pass on any further interest rate cuts, even though they must know that the economy needs this type of monetary stimulus.

This had me thinking, under current rules, the banks are set for another win at the taxpayers expense. At the moment, the banks are making massive write-offs, this means that the government and therefore the taxpayer, will not receive any corporation taxes from the banks. Less tax receipts from the banks, means, ultimately, more will be needed from you and I. Now here is the rub, banks can quite legally carry over losses from one year to another, now given the size of their losses, they could end up not paying any form of corporation tax for several years.

So, not only will they have received taxpayers money to stay afloat, they will contribute nothing to the economy for several years to come. This may be perfectly legal, but it is completely unacceptable. I believe that the government should act now to prevent the banks and any other third party that has received taxpayer funding from being able to carry over past losses, to offset against future profits. Think about it, when we are all having to pay for the excesses of this government in higher taxes, the bankers will be coining it with large bonuses, brought about, in no small part, from the fact that they will not have to pay corporation tax.

It is unlikely that Gordon Brown & Co will be in government when this happens, but at the very least, he should start the ball rolling and David Cameron needs to come out of his shell and insist that something is done. The banks effectively held us to ransom, when they embarked on high risk expansionism, requiring a massive injection of taxpayers funds as well as guarantees, they now intend to hold us to ransom over passing on any future interest rate falls, they must not be allowed to win again. For a government that simply revels in state control, perhaps they should consider getting some over the banks?

Blink and you will miss it! After all the hyperbole, David Cameron has announced what the Conservative party would do to stimulate the economy and quite frankly it is pathetic. What a missed opportunity, he is so beset with trying to prove that he is ‘prudent’ that he fails to grasp the extent of the economic downturn on business and ordinary people. Quite frankly he is a fool. I did not think it was possible for the Conservative party to lose the next election given Labour’s pathetic 11 years of tax and spend, then spend even more and borrow. But I have to hand it to David Cameron, he is doing an excellent job of trying.

Now I know that Cameron relies heavily on his advisors, after all, what would he know about being unable to pay the bills? You could be forgiven for believing that I am a die-hard Labour supporter, but regular readers will know I am nothing of the sort. I have only ever voted Conservative, but I am now politically homeless, because I could never bring myself to support a party that lacks backbone, initiative and orginality, nor one that actively supports a leader that is clearly weak, patronising and lacking any conviction. Tony Blair didn’t win because he was young, it was because he was believable, love or hate his policies and beliefs, he divided public opinion in the same way that Thatcher did, but he was a conviction politician. For what it is worth, I also found him superficial, but that is my personal view because I didn’t like him either, I always felt he was quite prepared to heap icing on a biscuit and sell it as a wedding cake.

David Cameron proposes that business and the unemployed could be supported by a stimulus package which would provide national insurance tax breaks for those employers that are prepared to take on anyone that has been unemployed for more than 3 months. Now, this idea is not original, here is what I said on the 28th November 2008

Small business should be encouraged to take on the long term unemployed and those that are in receipt of disability benefits (some 2.5m), but can work. Small business employers could be offered a full rebate on all employer NIC’s for employees that are classed in either of these categories. This will assist small businesses, increase the opportunities available for the long term unemployed and result in a massive reduction in the burden on the state from those who are in receipt of benefits, rather than contributing. This initiative could be self-funding or even offer a surplus.

So clearly I would be supportive of this measure, but it just doesn’t go far enough, because it demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the needs of small business. If a patient is bleeding to death, a bandage may make the first-aider feel as if he is making a contribution, but it will take a tourniquet to save the patient’s life. This tax initiative is okay, but it must be part of a package of measures, as I suggested in my original post on helping small business. Let me remind you Mr Cameron, in case your advisors haven’t told you, 12.5m people are employed by the SME sector, over 50% of all those employed. Something else many of your advisors will not have told you is that businesses will fight a lot harder to save a job, than they will to take on new people. In other words, you should be targeting help to keep people employed as well as supporting firms to take on new employees.

Of course no-one can criticise David Cameron for insisting that any tax cut measures need to be paid for, I couldn’t agree more. However, sometimes circumstances will dictate a variation in policy and outlook, even if it is short-term, of course natural leaders already know that. The current economic downturn in one such instance and a visionary, competent and an open-minded leader would recognise that. There are many government projects that could and should be shelved and this would save money, but equally, as Cameron rightly pointed out, it costs £8,000 per annum to support someone on benefits and there is the loss of tax revenues and national insurance to add on top of that. In other words, damned if you do, damned if you don’t. In this type of situation, I would sooner be seen as someone that was prepared to take risks, both financially and politically if I felt the results could save jobs and reduce the length and depth of the recession.

David Cameron’s tax tinkering would do more harm than good, he really needs to get out more. Relying on meetings with 3 business people for a TV show or advisors that have never run a business is not going to provide him with the depth of knowledge that is necessary to understand business, particularly small business. If he is relying on the same people to advise him of what to do on personal taxation, then I suspect there is no point in turning up to the press conference. David, get a grip, be a man for once in your life. Leaders lead, they don’t tip their toe in the water to see how cold it is, they must have the courage of their convictions but they should also be able to listen, digest and expand on new or radical ideas. This country does not need an also ran, to follow the Labour loser.

Well I have argued that there needs to be a combination of monetary and fiscal cuts in order that the economy can receive a well needed stimulus, although I am not naive enough to believe that it will stave off a recession. This country is already in a recession, even if the official measures used to determine a “real” recession have not yet been met, all we can do is try to lessen the impact on people, jobs and business.

Gordon Brown has indicated over the weekend that he believes fiscal policy should include tax cuts and rumours abound as to the extent of such cuts, with estimates of £480 per person through to an annual estimate of £15bn in tax cuts. Whatever the case, there are two things which I am wary of. The first, that Gordon Brown has a habit of double counting and this is no time for a sales pitch. The economy needs a real injection of cash and the people of this country need to know that they have a little more money in their pockets, no sales pitch is going to change that, so Gordon Brown, beware of New Labour spin. The second is the form that tax cuts will take.

Some “experts”  have suggested a temporary cut in VAT. What are they smoking? Lets take a look at that proposal shall we? There is no VAT on food, council rates, children’s clothes etc., what many will call essential items. Where VAT is charged, how can we be certain that retailers, keen to impress their shareholders and hold onto their bonuses, will not take the opportunity to increase their margins? Thereby minimising the affect of any price reduction which ought to be brought about by a fall in VAT to the proposed 12.5%. Also, there is the cost to business, especially small business, they are the organisations and people that will have to deal with the major changes to their business that would be brought about as a consequence of a short-term change in VAT. Are these people really advising the government? I hope Gordon Brown is not listening, fortunately, not one of his strong points.

What we need is a simple, clear cut, obvious reduction is direct taxation. It must be one that is both tangible and visible, no messing around withallowances, tax credits and bandings. Instead, there should be a significant reduction in direct taxation and I have suggested this should be a reduction in the bottom rate of tax from 20% to 15 %, with all other banding’s remaining static, so the full effect benefits everyone, in a way that cannot be fiddled. Fiddling, with one or 2% will make little or no difference to the man on the street. There is no point in targeting cuts to the poorest sections of the community, because,put simply, everyone is affected, especially so called “middle England”, that has funded virtually every one of New Labour’s ‘feel good’ initiatives over the past 11 years, through proportionately higher taxes.

I doubt that it will be possible to fully-fund such tax cuts, which I think, at least for the time being, should be limited for a period of 3 years, to provide the personal reassurance that most people seek in their lives. However, in these uncertain times, I go against my instincts in terms of government borrowing if required to as a result of a ‘funding gap.  I would insist, however, that some funding is gained through cuts in non-essential government and believe me there is a great deal of that. For example, the Big Brother Britain database estimated at a cost of £12bn, should be cancelled altogether, the NHS database, estimated to cost in the region of £32bn, should be shelved in the short-term and re-considered in the medium term, based on a genuine cost versus return basis. Other database systems, that this government has so badly commissioned, budgeted for and managed should also be shelved until such time as the economy recovers, this would include everything related to ID cards. The cost of being part of the European Union is rising year on year, our ministers need to ensure that the European Parliament also looks at their costs in these difficult times, so that member countries can see a reduction in their ‘dues’. A good start would be to stop the European Parliament introducing draconian, liberty busting, politically correct rules and legislation, which costs money as well as stripping everyone of their national identities.

At this difficult economic time, we must also consider revising the $5bn overseas aid budget, this amounts to 1.5% of all tax receipts and cannot, therefore be ignored. Similarly, the public sector now employs some 1 in 5 of all those employed in this country, it has bloated and is arguably out of control. Equally, the cost of public sector, final salary pension schemes is paid for out of tax revenues, not a pension fund, therefore, the costs are enormous. This needs to be curtailed, the economy cannot afford such generous pension schemes, particularly when the private sector, who were hammered 11 years ago by Gordon Brown, have ‘pensions’ on average, worth just 1/15th of the public sector schemes.

Mere mortals like me, do not get provided witha detailed set of fiancial accounts for UK Plc, therefore I am unable to go through each and every expenditure line, but one thing is certain, you can guarantee that there is waste and excess in a public sector the size of ours and it needs to be dealt with. The way any businesses would do at a time of crisis. The adult population are better positioned than the government to determine where any additional money is spent, which is why any tax cuts must be via direct taxation, not indirect taxes, lets face it, it is our money in the first place. But whatever happens, it will never cost as much as the headline figure the government use to sell the cuts. Because, if people buy, companies prosper, business tax revenues are preserved or rise, VAT is paid, more people are employed, therefore less benefits are paid out, even if people save, many of them will be taxed on the interest. The government never loses.

For the record, I do not believe that bringing forward public sector infrastructure projects is the right way to go. The impact would be very limited, and the benefits disproportionate to the costs. Most of these projects would be PFI initiatives and, mark my word, history will look back at these PFI contracts and wonder why it was, that a government was awash with tax receipts, would enter into contracts which are akin to a consumer buying their houses at credit card rates, rather than on a traditional mortgage.

David “the cupboard is bare” Cameron, with his austerity speech, which I am sure he thought would make him look clever and responsible is in a tight corner. Traditionally the Conservative party has been the party of tax cuts and enterprise, he has fallen into a trap and it was one of his own making. David Cameron thought we needed to be told how bad things were, we didn’t, because we can feel it! A good leader must never, never back himself into a corner, now he must either eat a bit of humble pie, or, more likely for a British politician, he will come out with a fudge. Either way, he made a mistake and he will pay dearly for it. He will not be forgiven for allowing Gordon Brown, one of the most despised men in this country, get away with using former tory policies, at a time when people want them most.

Let me provide David Cameron with one piece of advice, something that he will not appreciate from his privileged upbringing. There is no point in having a balanced budget if you die of starvation in the process. Government takes our money at will, then they spend it on their favourite pet project or group, without consultation, in the process, they keep as much as 35% of our money on ‘administration costs’. If government were an investment fund, it would need a bailout every year, in fact that is what they get, it is just government take our money when they get a bit short, forever dipping into our pockets when we are not looking, a kind of distraction theft. I have always voted conservative in the past, but this lightweight, ill-considered leadership provided by David Cameron frustrates the hell out of me, he just doesn’t seem to have a clue.

Now come on guys, whatever your party colours, pull your finger out. Do what is necessary to help the people of this country, interest rate cuts were the first part, the second is a reduction in direct taxation and the third to reduce wasteful public expenditure. To have a short term impact, the second was contingent of the first, but the second should not be contingent on the third, because the third must always be part of responsible government. Stop whining about losing your seats or creaming yourselves over the thought of winning the next election by default, not one of you has earned your pay yet, so you are all, still very much on trial. If you don’t grow up, we could see quite a few members of the Monster Raging Loony Party, as people register their protest. Still, from what I can see from the current crop of MP’s, it couldn’t be much worse.

Rant over, but have left in typo’s, poor grammar and other errors so you can see just how much I have smashed into this keyboard, off to PC World now to see if they have any cheap keyboards.