The most useful thing I think I can do this morning is suggest questions to ask politicians in this election. A thread.
The following list builds on work referenced on my blog, and most especially the Taxing Wealth Report that I published recently.
The purpose of these questions is to challenge the persistently negative view of politicians when it comes to the UK economy, about which almost all of them think there is nothing they can do.
The list of questions is not necessarily in any order of priority. Themes are repeated quite deliberately because that is necessary when all politicians are evasive.
1. Why won't you increase taxes on the wealthy when you know the government needs more money?
2. Why would you rather we had child poverty than tax the best off in society?
3. This country spends £14.5 billion a year on subsidising the pensions of the wealthiest people at rates higher than those available to basic rate taxpayers. Aren't there better uses for that money, which is welfare for the wealthy?
4. Wouldn't it be fair to charge capital gains at income tax rates? That could raise £12 billion a year in tax. Wouldn't that make life better for millions?
5. Why not charge national insurance on investment incomes? That could raise vastly more than cancelling the non-dom rule. Couldn't the NHS benefit from that?
6. You say there is no magic money tree when the creation of new money during the Covid era proved otherwise. Why not admit the truth, which is that this option is available to any government?
7. The Bank of England is now imposing record high interest rates in real terms on this country, at least in recent times. How is that going to help deliver growth or help struggling families?
8. Record high interest rates mean the government is paying tens of billions a year to UK banks on money that the government effectively gifted to them using QE. How are you going to stop those unfair payments?
9. Isn't it time to end Bank of England independence? Even they admit they have done their job really badly.
10. Why do you claim there are fiscal rules you must comply with when you just make them up and can change them whenever you want? They aren't rules in that case, are they?
11. Why have you adopted so-called fiscal rules that guarantee austerity to the people of this country?
12. Why are you obsessed with controlling the national debt? All it represents are people's savings kept for safekeeping with the government. Isn't that a good thing that you should encourage?
13. Why won't you offer people the chance to save with the government to provide the funds for investment in the NHS, education, the Green New Deal and more? Wouldn't people welcome that?
14. Can we grow forever? How? Mightn't it be better to talk about how we manage sustainably?
15. I hear all you say but then note what you are doing. By refusing to tax the rich more, aren't you making it clear that you will govern in the best interests of the wealthy and not most people in this country?
There will be more. Those will do for starters.
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When are you going to recognise to adequately tackle poverty you need to impose stricter under-writing standards on banks for home buying loans and considerably increase funding for affordable social housing since housing costs are now disproportionately high?
“People living in rented accommodation – in 2021/22, more than 4 in 10 social renters (43%) and around a third of private renters (35%) were in poverty after housing costs. Around a third of these social renters and half of these private renters were only in poverty after their housing costs were factored in, so appear to be pushed into poverty by the amount they have to spend on housing.”
https://www.jrf.org.uk/uk-poverty-2024-the-essential-guide-to-understanding-poverty-in-the-uk
https://www.progressivepulse.org/economics/conservatives-have-made-the-uk-world-beating-again
On BBC Radio Scotland GMS this morning the notably uninspiring leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Douglas Ross was acutely asked which countries were the ‘hostile states weaponising immigration’ which Rishi Sunak described. Ross offered ‘people traffickers’. Left with a yawning open goal, and a flat-footed Douglas Ross, the BBC interviewer (of course) changed the subject.
We are going to be inflicted with six weeks of this dire, intellectually-challenged rubbish; and then five more years of it.
It was a good question.
Why is the BBC so incompetent? Is it really by choice?
Personally, I would use a much stronger phrase to describe any B.B.C News/Current Affairs programme, especially in Scotland. Westminster is so terrified of losing our country’s assets, that they must try to denigrate anyone in favour of Independence. And the B.B.C is their mouthpiece to achieve that aim.
“Why is the BBC so incompetent? Is it really by choice?”
Unionism. BBC Scotland is a Unionist institution, to its foundations. ‘Impartiality’ stops with the Union.
Meanwhile, Starmer tells us that with the Conservatives “we have been going round in circles”. The circle, if you care to inspect it however, is a Single Transferable Party (STP). You can vote Conservative or Labour by choice. What you will receive in terms of concrete policy and government action, will not change. It will be the same Neoliberal Government. Only the rhetoric, the puff changes.
Nothing has changed. Nothing ever changes.
“Why is the BBC incompetent?”
But is it?
Others have referenced the Andrew Marr – Chomsky interview in which Mr Chomsky kindly positioned the interviewer where he belongs – a safe pair of hands wrt the establishment.
In the recent example the interviewer did his job – which was to if not to make the interviewee look good – at least not to make him look like an idiot. Mission accomplished.
Main stream media = propaganda outlets. Always. Thus one has to frame the critique in those terms, the BBC as part of the establishment is highly competent at making proaganda.
& an aside to Mr Warren: can I use the “Single Transferable Party (STP)” – wonderful!
I too liked STP, a lot
Use it with pleasure. Steamroller the parties. More power to your elbow (but not at world prices).
I think the RS interviewers are so used to DRoss talking drivel, as it is an every day occurrence, they’re face palming as he speaks.
He has this unique ability to verbally lobotomise the interviewer in real time.
We all know he is very challenged. Do RS need to humiliate him further ?
However, McFadden was well out of his comfort zone on GMS as to why Labour should select non Scottish candidates for Scottish constituencies, including a Lewisham councillor from 400m away.
If he is the brains behind the Labour campaign and doesn’t get that Scottish voters, even Labour supporters, might not want English candidates parachuted in, with his own background, then it will be an unpredictable and messy campaign by LINO.
Day One certainly has been totally uninspiring so far.
Exponentially increasing rates:
To care for children – and all future generations – carbon dioxide emissions need to be ‘dramatically’ reduced. Will you support the introduction of ‘exponentially increasing’ prices for energy use – aircraft fuels, petrol, diesel, gas and electricity (which requires some fossil fuel use for its generation, distribution and use)?
Water-for-home-use could also be be subject to charges that are much higher for extravagant use (private swimming pools for a start). Water is ‘essential’ for growing food, ‘important’ for some processes but is currently used ‘casually or unnecessarily’ – for others.
Unquestioning Time came from Radio Shortbread Towers in Brigadoon this morning. They had a Conservative, a Tory and a Unionist on the panel. They would have had an SNP(BAAD) person on but that would have upset the balance and compromised political impartiality.
On Q1 they all agreed that the rich are the wealth creators and their unique entrepreneurialism needs to be encouraged by the lowest possible taxes.
On Q2 they were unanimous that government was doing all it could to tackle poverty given all the fiscal constraints and having to pay back the debt so that our great grandchildren aren’t saddled with with the consequences of our unfunded spending. Besides, the poor are always with us.
Q3&4&5 See Q1.
Q6. Covid was a one off and is unlikely to occur again, at least not before we are all dead. Besides a couple of neoliberal vandals took a chainsaw to the Magic Money Tree and used it to make a big bonfire of all those tiresome EU regulations which were holding back the “Great” in Great Britain. And further besides, the Government has no money of its own, and as every dog in the street knows, there’s only taxpayers money.
Radio4 PM programme presenters are past masters at asking faux ‘awkward questions’ while missing all Richards’ pertinent ones.
Wes Streeting unchallenged saying ‘within what the country can afford’ when a mild query about subsidising wealthy pensions, or taxing high incomes at same rate as lower incomes , or where did the the ‘what we can afford’ fiscal rule come from , would have been enightening .
He said they had cleaned up the Labour Party and were going to clean up politics – an open goal for ‘why did you accept money from a private healthcare company’.
All true
Richard,
Just Stop Oil are diversifying their activities under the name of Umbrella (https://umbrella-org.com/). One strand of this is called “Robin Hood”, about which they say: “Robin Hood is still in development and considering proposals. The project will address key social issues to go to the heart of what’s wrong with our economic system and the inequality, greed and corruption destroying our public services and exposing us to climate collapse.”
From what was said about this in a Zoom call this evening, I think they’d likely be receptive to the Taxing Wealth Report. There’s a contact form on the webpage above if you felt minded to get in touch.
Right now I just don’t have the capacity to take on anything else…
Sorry
But it would be great if someone might raise the ideas…
I’ve sent them the link, but I don’t have the knowledge or expertise to go any further with it.
I will mail them….