As a newly elected MP Rishi Sunak spoke in the budget debate of 2015, saying:
That to me suggests a simple conclusion: in normal times, public spending should not exceed 37% of GDP.
And he added:
Whether one is a Thatcherite or a Trotskyite, the rules of budgeting are the same: one cannot sustainably spend more than one earns. I commend the Chancellor for acting on that principle and ensuring that Britain's finances will once again be back in the black.
Yesterday he said:
...we're going to change the whole mindset of Government.
To make sure economic decision-making reflects the economic geography of the country…
As a result the Red Book said:
Government spending is now set to be 40.7% of GDP in 2024-25.
And as the OBR noted, borrowing is going to rise under Sunak:
So was Sunak wrong in 2015?
Has he seen the light?
And will his new fiscal rules reflect that fact that borrowing is now to be embraced?
I wish t would. But I rather strongly suspect that this man still thinks the country is like a household, and that we will all pay the price for that.
Hat tip: David Lowry
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An interesting fact about Sunak is that his father in law is very close to Modi. If that was Putin, Erdogan or Bolsonaro this would be widely reported but Modi, the BJP and the wider RSS fly under the radar in the UK for some reason despite their clear fascist tendency.
Given that Sunak is in contact with the mainline of international right populism I wouldn’t be surprised if he has converted to Bannon/Cummings style economic nationalism.
With respect, that is something none of us know anything about. My father-in-law knows lots of people, some of whom I’ve met, none of whom I’ve anything to do with. Rishi Sunak is, apparently, a director of his father-in-law’s investment company, but it’s quite a leap to say that makes him a supporter of far-right populism. Call me naive, if you like.
I have some sympathy – we cannot be accountable for our relatives – but was can self isolate from them
PS: If that is true about him being a director of his father-in-law’s investment company, he should stand down immediately. Wholly inappropriate for any chancellor to have such a role.
The only financial interest he discloses in the 2 March 2020 register is a flat in London. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmregmem/200302/200302.pdf
No current directorships registered at Companies House (but I doubt any such investment company is in the UK).
He resigned as a director of Catamaran Ventures in 2015
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/08561424/officers
..…………………..I can feel my head is about to explode and it has nothing to do with the Coronavirus.
Not to mention the under-investment in public infrastructure and services since 2010 when the Tories took office. Of course the Tories know they can say almost anything about government investment in the economy and a majority of economically and monetarily illiterate voters will believe them. This has been going on at least since a Tory government under the Earl of Liverpool introduced the gold standard in 1821.