government borrowing

[Feedback]

once again we are seeing a Labour government borrowing more and more money (see here), as their economic and fiscal policies are now starting to impact in full, with unemployment rising, borrowing and associated costs rising, the benefits bill increasing, tax revenues down.

I'm not sure how any of that can help bring around a fairer society that we were promised, and overall the economy and borrowing is performing much worse than what was forecast. This is all before we see the impact of the energy price shock from the Iran war. In other words, Labour cannot use the war as an excuse. Its their policies and only their policies that are causing this economic trauma.

The only response we'll see from Labour and Reeves in the autumn is to take more tax out of the economy to cover the cost of what should now be apparent are failed policies, which will have the effect of exacerbating what is already a delicate situation.

[Eric Cartman]

Re: government borrowing

once again we are seeing a Labour government borrowing more and more money (see here), as their economic and fiscal policies are now starting to impact in full, with unemployment rising, borrowing and associated costs rising, the benefits bill increasing, tax revenues down.

I'm not sure how any of that can help bring around a fairer society that we were promised, and overall the economy and borrowing is performing much worse than what was forecast. This is all before we see the impact of the energy price shock from the Iran war. In other words, Labour cannot use the war as an excuse. Its their policies and only their policies that are causing this economic trauma.

The only response we'll see from Labour and Reeves in the autumn is to take more tax out of the economy to cover the cost of what should now be apparent are failed policies, which will have the effect of exacerbating what is already a delicate situation.

Its all starting to sound a bit dogmatic/ideological..

I think if you are looking at rising unemployment and a stale job market solely through the eyes of government policy I think you are missing a massive elephant in the room, I'm not sure what it is though, let me just go ask chat gpt if he knows.

The NICs rise added roughly 900 quids worth of costs to a business employing someone on the median salary. That sounds a bit burdensome but not earth shattering to me, the main problem businesses were highlighting at the time was that it was unexpected (although relatively predictable) and that there was little runway so had to be found within already existing budgets. Once you strip that out, all businesses had to moan about was a rising min wage, which is optically harder to rail against during a cost of living crisis.

[blackrock bluebird]

Re: government borrowing

The borrowing numbers are not great. But the situation is more complex than just blaming current policy. A lot of the borrowing is tied to commitments made by previous governments. Also global interest rates are high, which makes debt more expensive for everyone.

Unemployment is up but from historic lows. Still low compared to most of the past 20 years. Tax revenues are down because the economy slowed. That happens.

The real test will be the autumn budget. If they raise taxes on working people while borrowing stays high, then the criticism is fair. If they cut spending and protect growth, that is a different story.

The Iran war is real. Energy prices are already moving. That will hit the books too. Cannot ignore it completely. But Labour cannot hide behind it either. We will see.