I am on Radio 5 this morning, live sometime between 7.35 and 8, meaning that as I type I am sitting waiting for the phone to ring sometime soon.
I was invited to contribute to their breakfast show's 'In my opinion' spot yesterday. They suggest the topic. In my case it was 'Why I do not think there should be an income tax cut in this budget'. If I agreed, I was offered the chance to say why and offer an alternative opinion in one minute, at most.
This is what I recorded:
Hi Rick and Chris, I'm Richard Murphy. I'm Professor of Accounting Practice at Sheffield University Management School and in my opinion the Chancellor should not do a blanket cut to income tax tomorrow.
The chancellor has £13 billion pounds to spend in his budget.
That could give every taxpayer in the UK a £300 pound tax cut but, that's not a good idea. The poorest people, who don't pay tax, will not benefit. For me, that's a big problem. What's more, the richest people, who don't need this money will benefit. That makes no sense.
So, he should do three things. He should be generous with benefit increases.
He should also provide more support for gas and electricity bills for those who really need it.
And he should invest money into making our schools and hospitals safe when so many are falling down at present.
Those things would be a much better use of money than a general income tax cut.
The recording was 1.04 - which was close enough.
The recording is played twice - once already being out. The other will be soon.
My aim was threefold. First, it was to tackle inequality.
Second, it was to direct funds in a way that income tax cuts cannot.
Third, it was to promote the need for investment.
I did not get the chance to promote tax increases and other spending plans. One minute is very tight.
So far I think it was worth doing. I will see how the live session goes.
PS: I think the live session went well.
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Meanwhile, on BBC GMS Scotland the first news priority of the BBC is not the Gaza crisis, or Sir Patrick Vallance’s devastating appearance as a witness in the Covid Inquiry yesterday, and its impact, or even the economy; but the folly of the Scottish Government’s Health Minister’s personal failures over an £11k bill, that are already officially being closely investigated by the Scottish Parliament itself. The BBC is returning to this as a lead item at twenty minute intervals.
An SNP minister fairly openly and competently answered the questions by a BBC ‘journalist’ openly pursuing the Scottish Conservative attack line. The SNP Minister (Keith Brown?) gently pointed out he had been asked to appear over the Gaza crisis, but the BBC interviewer insisted that the Health Minister was all everybody was talking about.
Let me make this clear. Michael Mathieson has legitimate and serious questions to answer, but which already appear to be fully under Parliament’s scrutiny; and he must answer for his decisions. Objectively, there is very little to add, save the political exploitation. The Scottish Conservatives’ reasons for their attack line is obvious; and not least in desperation to deflect attention from the serious problems for the Conservatives presented by the Vallance testimony, including not just the bamboozled Johnson, but Sunak over his ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ (the virus) scheme, and Hancock for his unreliable use of facts; and the wholesale failure of understanding or leadership in the Cabinet. The only people who are only talking about Michael Mathieson as the critical story, however are The Scottish Conservatives – and BBC Scotland. At 9.50am, from around 8am, the Vallance story has not been mentioned once in BBC GMS, as far as I can see.
Scotland is not being well served by this public service broadcaster.
Agreed