I noticed this reply to a parliamentary question that was published yesterday:
The Whole of Government Accounts matter. They are the only publication by the government that does, for example, provide a true and fair view of the government's debt by using accounting conventions that overturn the Office for National Statistics' false view on this issue.
These accounts also give a proper representation of government income and spending, albeit that the capital maintenance concept used in their preparation and their implicit assumption that the government is just a giant corporation are both questionable.
That said, the failure of the government to produce these accounts on a timely basis matters. What is more, if the feeble excuse used by John Glen as to their non-production had been used by any commercial enterprise to justify a delay in presenting accounts to HMRC or Companies House then it would have been dismissed as irrelevant and no justification for non-submission and significant penalties would have been imposed.
It is not just the poor accounting by the government that matters in this case, although it is reprehensible that they care so little about meeting stakeholder need; it is also the contempt for those who suffer the often unfair and even unjust penalties imposed on them for reason of genuine and unavoidable delay in filing accounts, tax returns and VAT returns that also matters. They cannot apply one standard to their own conduct and apply another to everyone else.
We need the Whole of Government Accounts. If multinational corporations are required to file their accounts within seven months of their year-end then so should the government be required to do so, and there is no excuse for that not to happen.
I thank Caroline Lucas for asking the question.
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Are they trying to hide things, corrupt Covid spending and massive under-funding of public services for example? Does this presage an earlier general election than most expect?
I think it is incompetence, indifference and contempt.
At that rate the 2022-23 will not be published until after the next election. That will be the ‘no money left’ note.
I think Richard nails it above – accountability has never been the strong point of authoritarian neo-liberal governments which is what this lot really are.
The Tories have now got their continuity partners – Laboured – set up, so why bother being accountable right now? This is about sovereignty and those making exceptions for themselves to define that they are in control (read Carl Schmitt).
And even out of power, the Tories – through the OBR, through their polices will STILL be in control.
If you felt that powerful, that omnipotent, would you feel accountable?
“These accounts also give a proper representation of government income and spending”
Does that mean the accounts accord with the points you made in
https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2023/07/15/why-the-obrs-view-of-the-economy-is-so-wrong/ ?
Not entirely, but they are better
The excuse that public money cannot be spent at times of economic hardship such as today is as old as the hills. The 1930s Depression was caused by the very same attitudes politicians have today. My grandad who was a miner, sent down the pit at the age of 12 referred to it as the “bankers ramp” Ramsey Mcdonald and his Chancellor Philip Snowden used s exactly the same words as Labour Shadow ministers today.. In the decade before I was born the working class lived through hell under the Tories. One hundred and fifty people died every day from conditions caused by malnutrition. There was mass unemployment every year. Then UK citizens had to endure 6 years of total war that left the country exhausted. Factories were clapped out. There were enormous shortages of raw materials – bricks, timber ,steel etc. There was also a huge shortage of skilled labour due to the war. Britain had lost much of its export trade . The debt to GDP was over 200%. this chaos was what the Attlee Labour Government faces when it took office. Fortunately, they had Keynes to advise them. A man who Ann Pettifor describes as a national genius comparable to Charles Darwin. That government created the Welfare State, the NHS, Gave us full employment for the first and only time in UK history. Thousands of social houses were built. Education was reformed. Legal aid was introduced. Inequality began to fall. Living standards began to rise. People felt more secure and were given hope. If the brave 1945 Labour Government could achieve what it did then there is no reason another Labour government can’t do it again. We know beyond peradventure the money can be made available. WE know because we read Richards words of wisdom every day. Other respected economists are in full agreement. The Labour leadership is made up of those who are as thick as 28 short planks. The British must take to the streets and force Starver to change course. The British people will respond to policies which give them real hope for change.