Posts Tagged ‘debt’
Labour will put the boot into Britains recovery
Labour will kill the recovery
Monday, April 5 2010
The Conservatives have launched a poster as part of a wider campaign highlighting how Labour’s job tax will kill the recovery.
“Labour have confirmed today that they are going ahead with a national insurance tax rise on jobs that Britain’s business leaders say will endanger jobs”, said George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor.
The Conservatives have also unveiled new research showing how National Insurance has become Labour’s favourite stealth tax:
- Total receipts from National Insurance have risen over five times faster than income tax receipts over the last decade.
- Average National Insurance Contributions (NICs) per family have risen over twelve times as much as average income tax receipts per family over the same period.
- In that time Gordon Brown cut the basic rate of income tax once (as part of the 10p tax con) but he increased National Insurance rates in three different ways – and that’s even before Labour’s new tax on jobs planned for 2011
“With Gordon Brown now finally forced to call the election, the choice is clear”, Osborne added.
“Labour’s jobs tax and debt will stamp out the green shoots and kill the recovery. Conservative plans to cut wasteful government spending and stop the jobs tax will get Britain working.”
Tweet this!
Captains of Industry and Business Leaders are Backing the Conservatives UK
Top Business Leaders Back Tories On Tax
9:42am UK, Thursday April 01, 2010
Ruth Barnett, Sky News Online
A group of business leaders have written a letter backing the Conservatives’ proposal to halt a planned rise in National Insurance.
David Cameron described it as a “very important moment in the election campaign”.
The executive chairman of Marks and Spencers, Sir Stuart Rose, and easyJet entrepreneur Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou are among the 23 people to have signed the letter, which is published in the Daily Telegraph.
The signatories employ around half a million workers between them.
They agree with shadow chancellor George Osborne that increasing NI by 1p next April, as Labour plans to do, is bad news for the economy.
“The Government’s proposal to increase national insurance, placing an additional tax on jobs, comes at exactly the wrong time in the economic cycle,” the letter says.
The Labour Party feel that the Conservatives’ plan has not been properly costed and not properly thought through.
Sky’s political correspondent Joey Jones
“In a personal capacity, we welcome George Osborne’s plan to stop the proposed increase in national insurance by cutting Government waste.”
Mr Cameron told BBC Breakfast: “These household names – people like Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s and Mothercare – are saying that Labour’s plans to put up National Insurance contributions are the biggest threat to the recovery.
“They are saying there is no threat to the recovery from cutting waste in 2010 but there is a threat to the recovery from putting up National Insurance contributions.
“Labour have said the whole thing is that we can secure the recovery. Well, today that plank of their whole approach has been removed.”
Chancellor Alistair Darling pledged to introduce the rise as a way of paying off some of the nation’s debts.
But Mr Osborne said he would axe the increase for people earning less than £45,000 if his party wins power at the next election. He said he would pay for this by finding efficiency savings worth £12bn.
Mr Darling counters that Mr Osborne’s policy is at odds with the Conservatives’ claim they would cut the deficit sooner and deeper than the Government plans.
Treasury Chief Secretary Liam Byrne said the Conservatives were not able to fund their promise on NI.
“No business goes to its shareholders with unfunded promises – but that’s exactly what the Tories are doing,” he said.
The captains of industry and top business leaders are fully aware of the failure of this Labour Government. They are giving their full backing to the Conservatives, because they know we have the experience and common sense, to get rid of Labour’s crippling debt, but not at the expense of putting more businesses out of action, or risking the creation of new jobs.
Members of the public whose jobs are hanging by a thread need to take note and ensure their vote is for the Conservatives. Another term of Labour could spell disaster for them and everyone else in the United Kingdom.
Jim Ferguson
Tweet this!
Economic recovery details laid out by George Osborne-Mais lecture
George Osborne has laid out some good starting points for determining and kick starting the road to economic recovery. His full lecture can be read in full at the end of this article and shows how detailed the shadow chancellor and his vision of the future is. As well as being a Parliamentary Candidate I am also a businessman so this makes vital reading for all business people.
Jim Ferguson
George Osborne delivers the annual Mais lecture
Wednesday, February 24 2010
Delivering the annual Mais lecture, Shadow Chancellor George Osborne set out the Conservative vision for a new economic model.
He argued that the debt-fuelled model of growth that the Government pursued over the last decade was fundamentally unsustainable, and that we need to move from an economy built on debt to an economy where we save and invest for the future. We have to deal with our debts to get the economy back on its feet.
He pointed to research which shows that the root cause of the economic crisis was an explosion of private sector debt, and that the biggest risk to the recovery is an explosion of public sector debt. High levels of public sector debt risk undermining growth.
He argued that the existing policy framework failed to prevent the crisis, is unable to deal with the current weakness of the economy, and won’t be able to stop it happening again. He set out a new economic model for growth based on saving and investment, and a new policy framework that can ensure that private and public debt are sustainable in the future, including:
· A new system of financial regulation, with the Bank of England back in charge of controlling the overall level of debt in the economy.
· A new fiscal policy framework, with an independent Office for Budget Responsibility to ensure that public debt is sustainable.
· A supply side revolution that releases the pent up enterprise and wealth creation of our country, encourages a nation of savers, and addresses long term structural weaknesses like poor education and a welfare system that traps people in workless poverty.
He also explained why the Government’s argument that we can afford to wait until 2011 before dealing with the deficit is complacent and puts the recovery at risk, and explained why we need to start dealing with the deficit in 2010:
· Confidence: a lack of confidence in the sustainability of the public finances is already undermining the recovery.
· The realities of markets: those who argue we should ignore financial markets are siren voices. If Britain loses the confidence of international markets the result would be emergency cuts that would indeed be swingeing and savage.
· The realities of Government: real public sector reform takes time so starting early on the deficit creates space for more targeted cuts that protect the poorest and front line services.
For the first time he also set out in detail how the budget process would work following the election in the event of a Conservative victory:
· Phase One: the independent Office for Budget Responsibility will set out an independent audit of the nation’s finances, based on independent growth forecasts. Only then will anyone know the true scale of the fiscal challenge that faces whoever forms the next government.
· Phase Two: an emergency budget within 50 days will set out the overall fiscal path and spending totals that we will stick to over the years ahead, as well as some of the cross-cutting measures on pay, the cost of Whitehall, the review of the pension age, and the largest public sector pensions, that will help to put our public finances on a sustainable footing. It will take targeted steps to reduce some budgets in-year in order to build credibility and make a start on reducing the deficit. Crucially, the first Budget will also contain measures to boost enterprise, encourage new jobs and show that Britain is open for business.
· Phase Three: over the Summer we will work flat out to conduct the detailed departmental Spending Review for the years after 2011 that the current government has simply refused to carry out, and publish that results of that review in the Autumn.
Tweet this!
Sir Richard Branson endorses Conservative plans for the Economy
More and more business people and economic experts are coming on board with the Conservatives to show their support for our economic plans to repair Labours recession. Sir Richard Branson is a welcome addition with his endorsement of our plans to repair the economy and reduce the Labour created debt that is plauging our nation in so many ways.
Jim Ferguson
Sir Richard Branson backs Conservative economic plans
Many of the papers this morning report comments by made by the country’s best known entrepreneur, the Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson, which are highly supportive of the Conservative medicine being prescribed for the economy.
He gave his backing to the economists who backed George Osborne’s strategy for reducing the deficit on Sunday, saying:
“I believe the UK’s record budget deficit does pose a serious risk to our recovery. It would be damaging if we lost the confidence of the markets through delayed action, and saw interest rates have to go up steeply.”
“We are going to have to cut our spending and I agree with the 20 leading economists who said we need to start this year. The next government, whatever party that is, must set out a plan to reduce the bulk of the deficit over a parliament by cutting wasteful spending and must not put off those tough decisions to next year.
“These factors threaten to undermine the confidence of international and UK businesses, consumers and the global financial markets. That could cost jobs and reduce investment in Britain. We must send a clear signal that we have the issues in hand and a clear strategy for UK plc.”
Sir Richard stopped short of giving an unequivocal endorsement of the Conservative Party at the general election, but as the Daily Mail reports today, he met David Cameron and George Osborne at the Commons last week for what sources described as “a good meeting”.
George Osborne naturally welcomed Sir Richard’s backing for the economic strategy he is pursuing :
“Sir Richard Branson’s support for our economic policy of early action to deal with Britain’s debts is hugely welcome. As Britain’s best known entrepreneur, he knows more about creating jobs and building an economic recovery than the entire Labour Cabinet put together.
“The whole country will want to pay attention to his warning that Gordon Brown’s approach could mean lost jobs, higher mortgage rates and less investment in Britain. Coming just 48 hours after the country’s 20 leading economists made exactly the same argument, the momentum for change is growing every day.”
Jonathan Isaby
Tweet this!
Dealing with Britains debt is a priority
Cameron says recovery depends on tackling the debt
The UK was one of the first economies to go into recession, and is now the last big economy to come out - new figures are expected to show the first signs of economic growth after eighteen months of recession.
“Obviously this will be very good news, but let’s be absolutely clear what this means”, Cameron said at his monthly press conference.
“Coming out of recession doesn’t mean that our debt crisis is over – far from it. Labour’s debt crisis is the biggest threat to our recovery. So we’ll only get this recovery right if we start right now on a proper debt reduction plan.”
In highlighting the need to “get a grip of our debt crisis”, Cameron used the analogy of a credit card: “the more we spend and the longer we wait to pay off our bills, the worse it can get”.
He said that the Government’s promise to halve the deficit in four years has failed to convince all those who we need to have confidence in Britain’s economic future.
“A key part of any plan is at least some early action to show that you are serious in your intent. That means some reduction in public spending plans in this coming financial year.”
“It is time they realised that it’s time to do the right thing”, Cameron added.
He also spoke about the Party’s agenda to mend our broken society, and of the Party’s success in selecting a diverse range of candidates.
Tweet this!
