The Guardian View on the Tories’ Autumn Statement: Wrong to Reward the Rich and Punish the Poor

THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: The deepening cracks in the country’s social structure are a clear sign that voters cannot just be left to face the cold winds of the market on their own

Jeremy Hunt will appeal to voters next week, if the leaks are true, on behalf of the Tory party’s worst instincts. The chancellor’s “autumn statement for growth” is said to include inheritance tax cuts that benefit the rich, reduced welfare payments which the poor rely on, and the withdrawal of free medical care from “coasters” who want to “take taxpayers for a ride”. To push the idea that the state should, in a cost of living crisis, reward the rich and punish the poor reveals an appalling disregard for social justice.

The five giants of poverty first identified in the second world war – want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness – are returning in new forms. MPs warn that the babies of poor families are dying for want of a cot as the benefit rules don’t provide for safe sleeping provision for the homeless. Diseases caused by malnutrition and associated with destitution, such as scurvy and rickets, now appear in doctors’ surgeries. With food prices 30% higher than two years ago, the ranks of the hungry are growing. The former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown warned only this week that “poverty, as distinct from neglect, parental addictions or domestic violence, is now a principal cause of children being forced into care”. » | Editorial | Friday, November 17, 2023

The Tories have turned sour and toxic. The party is no longer fit to govern the nation. This government must therefore be turfed out of office. The sooner, the better. – © Mark Alexander

Led by Donkeys: Landlord Jeremy Hunt

Nov 19, 2023 | The Chancellor told teachers and nurses they couldn’t have a pay rise that might stoke inflation. But what kind of pay rise did landlord Jeremy Hunt award himself? We found out.

Autumn Statement: Hunt Does Not Rule Out Income Tax Cuts

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has not ruled out cutting income tax in Wednesday's Autumn Statement, as he insisted economic growth was his priority.
Read the BBC aricle here.

This man is trying to take credit for bringing inflation down. He shouldn’t. Inflation is still raging. Any decrease in inflation so far has happened because energy prices have come down, prices over which he has no control. There has been little or no decrease in inflation as a result of Hunt’s efforts. He is merely trying to hoodwink the electorate.

The main reason for the sharp drop in inflation as measured by the consumer prices index was that the increase in energy prices in October 2022 was not repeated. Gas prices fell by 7% last month, having risen by almost 37% in the same month a year earlier. [Source: The Guradian]

Further, if Mr Hunt is wise, if there is any room for tax cuts, he should aim those tax cuts not at the superrich, but at the man in the street. And if economic growth is your goal, encourage spending on consumer goods, not superyachts and private jets! If you bring about tax cuts for the wealthy at this time of great hardship for the many, the elctorate will never forgive either you or the Tories.– © Mark Alexander

Jeremy Hunt Faces Red Wall Revolt If He Delivers ‘A Budget for the Rich’

THE OBSERVER: The chancellor’s potential inheritance tax cut in Wednesday’s budget would aid millionaires amid a cost of living crisis

Chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt leaves Downing Street in September 2023. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters
Jeremy Hunt faces a backlash from “red wall” Tory MPs if he uses a fiscal windfall of up to £20bn to deliver tax cuts for the rich rather than to help ordinary families with the cost of living, the Observer has been told.

The chancellor and Rishi Sunak are this weekend finalising an autumn statement on Wednesday that could include a major reduction in inheritance tax – four-fifths of which would benefit those with more than £1m at their death, according to a new report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). Each person with more than £1m would receive an average tax cut of £180,000, the IFS states.

After another torrid week for Sunak, in which he sacked Suella Braverman as home secretary and saw the government’s policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda declared illegal by the supreme court, he and Hunt are determined to seize the opportunity of Wednesday’s statement to turn the political tide, finally, in the Tories’ favour. » | Michael Savage, Toby Helm and Phillip Inman | Saturday, November 18, 2023

Only an incompetent, irresponsible, uncaring fool would deliver tax cuts for the rich at a time like this! – © Mark Alexnader

Hunt Will Back More Interest Rate Rises Even If It Pushes UK [in]to Recession

THE GUARDIAN: Chancellor to support Bank of England’s decisions because ‘inflation is a source of instability’

Jeremy Hunt said he will back further interest rate rises by the Bank of England, even if it risks plunging the UK into recession, in order to combat soaring inflation.

The chancellor’s comments come after figures this week showed annual inflation in April was higher than expected at 8.7%, raising the prospect of a 13th interest rate rise by the Bank of England. Markets are now predicting that interest rates could climb to 5.5% by the end of the year, up from their current level of 4.5%, putting further pressure on borrowers and the housing market. » | Kalyeena Makortoff | Friday, May 26, 2023

New UK Chancellor U-turns on Economic Plans - BBC News

Health and Teaching Unions Aghast at Jeremy Hunt’s New Era of Tory Austerity

THE OBSERVER: The chancellor sparked alarm among trade union leaders by promising ‘very difficult decisions’ for government budgets

Jeremy Hunt outside BBC Broadcasting House in central London on Saturday. Photograph: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images
Health chiefs, public sector unions and teaching leaders expressed horror on Saturday after the new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, appeared to usher in a fresh era of austerity, and the threat of more misery for cash-strapped hospitals and schools.

In his first interviews since dramatically replacing Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday, Hunt provoked widespread alarm by promising “very difficult decisions” for government budgets.

The NHS Confederation, which represents the healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, warned the prospect of further cuts was “incredibly grim”.

The head of the largest teaching union for England and Wales denounced Hunt’s attempt to placate the financial markets as “disastrous” and “scary” for schools, while another teaching union, NASUWT, said deeper cuts would cause “immeasurable damage to children’s learning”. » | Mark Townsend, Home Affairs Editor, and Michael Savage, Policy Editor | Saturday, October 15, 2022

Jeremy Hunt is another Tory w*****r who is destined to fail! He has neither the strength nor the experience for this job. I am going to stick my neck out and state that he will fail.

The Tories have themselves created the hell that we are now living through. Why? Because of the fantasy of the benefits of Brexit. Brexit was, is and will always remain the stupidest of ideas. Anyone who truly thought that leaving the biggest and greatest single market this world has ever known—The Single Market—would bring benefits and prosperity to this weakened, isolated middle-ranking nation was either deluded, lied to or had sawdust for brains! Because of Brexit, we actually deserve all the pain we will have to live through!

Brexit will almost inevitably lead to the breakup of the United Kingdom. It is to be hoped that Scotland under Nicola Sturgeon’s superior leadership will be able to bring Scotland’s independence about. Scottish independence will/would be a role model for the rest of the Celtic fringe. Westminster is clearly no longer working for Scotland, Ireland or Wales.

As for England, Liz Truss needs to retire to her kitchen and start baking cookies. She has made a dog’s dinner of the UK economy. She and that Kwasi Kwarteng. Both of them deserve to be consigned to the dustbin of history!

If the government is strapped for cash, which it so clearly is, start taxing the superrich, the billionaire class, and bring in a windfall tax on the energy companies. For Christ’s sake, don’t expect the people, das Volk, to live through even more pain than they have already been forced to live through by successive incompetent Tory governments!

As I have said many times before on this blog, the Tories need to be consigned to the dustbin of history—and with dispatch!—just as the Whigs were consigned to the dustbin of history before them. The Party is made up of backward-thinking people, old fogeys, and fossils. This country needs a business-friendly party, for sure; but a forward-thinking one. A party which believes in equity and is Europe-friendly. This country needs to be placed in the heart of European politics. We, as a nation, have so much to offer Europeans; and Europeans have so much to offer us.

Outside of the European Union, this country will become poorer, its economy will go on shrinking, and it will become ever-more disunited. Of these things, I will assure you right here and now! — © Mark Alexander

Revealed: How Coalition Has Helped Rich by Hitting Poor

George Osborne's claim that 'we are all in this together' in
economic terms is damaged by the findings of a new report.

THE OBSERVER: Study shows gains for wealthier half of population, delivering a blow to George Osborne’s claims on fairness

A landmark study of the coalition’s tax and welfare policies six months before the general election reveals how money has been transferred from the poorest to the better off, apparently refuting the chancellor of the exchequer’s claims that the country has been “all in it together”.

According to independent research to be published on Monday and seen by the Observer, George Osborne has been engaged in a significant transfer of income from the least well-off half of the population to the more affluent in the past four years. Those with the lowest incomes have been hit hardest.

In an intervention that will come as a major blow to the government’s claim to have shared out the burden of austerity equally, the report by economists at the London School of Economics and the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex finds that: » | Daniel Boffey, policy editor | Saturday, November 15, 2014

George Osborne Gets Stay-at-home Mothers Back to Work

George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Chancellor wants to see nearly 500,000 more women in the workplace by the beginning of 2016, which would allow the UK to match the female employment rate in Germany

Hundreds of thousands of stay-at-home mothers will be encouraged to go to work under Government plans to reform childcare in the UK.

George Osborne, the Chancellor, wants to see nearly 500,000 more women in the workplace by the beginning of 2016, which would allow the UK to match the female employment rate in Germany.

The Treasury said it will achieve the target by increasing access to childcare across the country, giving Britain one of the highest rates of female employment in the world.

However, campaigners warned that the Government risks unnecessarily “stigmatising” stay-at-home mothers.

Mr Osborne said that the Government will “support women who want to work” and said that the figures show they “are playing an ever larger role in the economy”. » | Peter Dominiczak, and Steven Swinford | Wednesday, October 22, 2014

My comment:

This Chancellor must be stupid! This is exactly the opposite of what the Chancellor should be encouraging. Children need their mothers to be at home; they don’t need them to be absent, in the workplace. Can’t this Chancellor observe all around him the result of increasing numbers of mothers going out to work?

Clearly, it is high time to kick this shower out of office. They have proved beyond a shadow of doubt that they are unworthy of the trust that the voters have placed in them. – © Mark

George Osborne: Sharing the Pound with Scotland Is 'Not Going to Happen'

The Chancellor uses a speech in Edinburgh to say: "If Scotland walks away from the UK, it walks away from the pound"

Read the Telegraph article here | Ben Riley-Smith, Scottish Political Reporter | Thursday, February 13, 2014

Conservative Knives Out for George Osborne
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: George Osborne faces a whispering campaign at the highest levels of the Conservative Party over his competence and judgment.

The Chancellor has been personally blamed for the party’s misfortunes and poor opinion poll ratings, with senior figures warning that change is needed ahead of the general election.

There are renewed calls for Mr Osborne to give up his role coordinating the party’s campaigning, as fears mount of disastrous results in May’s English local elections.

Some critics are demanding that he should be replaced as Chancellor by William Hague, the Foreign Secretary. Such a move would be a dramatic shift for the Prime Minister, as Mr Osborne is his closest political ally.

One senior Conservative at the heart of the party, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Telegraph: “George is the problem.”

Concerns centre on what is perceived to be his failure to understand the middle classes, their values, and their economic struggle.

Most notably, critics highlighted how the last budget in effect penalised rather than helped stay-at-home mothers and did not introduce recognition for marriage in the tax system.

This came on top of changes to child benefit which also penalise single-earner households.

Senior critics within the party were also unhappy with his flagship measure to boost the housing market, a mortgage guarantee scheme. There have been warnings that it could create a housing bubble, rather than help economic growth. » | Patrick Hennessy | Saturday, March 30, 2013

Great Train Snobbery! George Osborne Embarrassment after Sitting in First Class with Standard-class Ticket

THE INDEPENDENT: It is being dubbed the Great Train Snobbery or simply – and perhaps predictably – ticketgate.

George Osborne was facing acute embarrassment last night after his aides were caught demanding he be allowed to sit in a first-class train carriage with a standard-class ticket.

The Chancellor boarded the Virgin train to London at his constituency stop of Wilmslow with his aides. But rather than turn to sit in the second-class carriage for which he'd paid, Mr Osborne went right and took his place in the more salubrious and less crowded first-class carriage. » | Oliver Wright and Kevin Rawlinson | Saturday, October 20, 2012

George Osborne 'To Fight For Bankers' Bonuses' In Europe

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: George Osborne is preparing to defend the right of British banks to pay large bonuses against EU plans to cap the pay-outs, it emerged last night.

The Chancellor is expected to argue against the crackdown at a meeting of European finance ministers on Tuesday, in spite of a fresh public outcry over the behaviour of bankers in the wake of the rate-rigging scandal.

Mr Osborne will argue that the proposals, to set a maximum 1:1 ratio of bonus to pay, are not the right way to curb City remuneration.

Officials insist that he had taken the same position before details of the Libor rate-fixing scandal emerged, and it has not changed, the Financial Times reported.

But the timing of the meeting is likely to make it politically risky for him to make such a case, with the Chancellor potentially facing the accusation of being in cahoots with bankers despite allegations about their reckless behaviour.

It comes amid outrage that Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond may still be in line for a multi-million pound pay-out following his resignation over rate rigging. » | John-Paul Ford Rojas | Saturday, July 07, 2012

My comment:

This is clearly a case of out-of-touch Osborne defending the indefensible. This man is not in power to serve the people, but to serve his cronies. – © Mark

Osborne Urges ‘100% Focus’ on Economy after Election Defeats
BBC: George Osborne has said his party will focus on what matters to the public amid criticism from Conservative MPs in the wake of local election defeats.

Some Tories have urged the coalition to drop plans for electing the House of Lords and legalising gay marriage in favour of more populist policies.

The chancellor told the BBC ministers should "focus 100%" on the economy and not get "distracted" by other issues.

But they would still do "socially progressive" things, he insisted.

He was responding to criticism of the coalition's direction and priorities from some Conservative-supporting newspapers and backbench Tory MPs.

On Wednesday, the coalition will outline its agenda for the next year in the Queen's Speech, as it tries to regain the initiative after both the Conservatives and the Lib Dems suffered heavy losses in local elections.

'Change direction'

Many Conservative MPs want ministers to use the occasion to assert more traditional Conservative priorities on issues such as welfare, crime and tax and either delay or abandon proposals to legalise gay marriage and reform the House of Lords, seen predominately as Liberal Democrat ideas.

Mr Osborne told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show that "100% of our efforts need to be directed" at fixing the economy, which is back in recession. » | Sunday, May 06, 2012


Related »

'Arrogant Posh Boys with No Interest in Lives of Others': Tory MP Nadine Dorries Launches Astonishing Attack on David Cameron and George Osborne

MAIL ONLINE: A Tory MP has branded the Prime Minister and the Chancellor 'two arrogant posh boys' with 'no passion to want to understand the lives of others'.

Nadine Dorries said David Cameron and George Osborne's 'real crime' was to show 'no remorse' about their supposed lack of interest in matters beyond Westminster.

The Mid-Bedfordshire MP has clashed with her party leader in the past - and last year Mr Cameron apologised for humiliating her in the Commons.

She launched the personal attacks during an interview with BBC2's Daily Politics today, speaking of a 'very tight, narrow clique of a certain group of people' that she said is stopping senior ministers from understanding issues in the rest of the UK.

She said: 'Unfortunately, I think that not only are Cameron and Osborne two posh boys who don't know the price of milk, but they are two arrogant posh boys who show no remorse, no contrition, and no passion to want to understand the lives of others - and that is their real crime.' » | Lyle Brennan | Monday, April 23, 2012

BBC VIDEO: MP Dorries calls PM and chancellor 'arrogant posh boys' » | Monday, April 23, 2012

BBC VIDEO: Cameron: ‘I don’t agree with arrogant posh boy claim’ »

BBC VIDEO: Cameron and Osborne: Posh or ordinary blokes? »

Tory MPs Told to 'Get a Grip' after Criticism of Leadership

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Conservative MPs unhappy about the way David Cameron is running the Government have been told to "get a grip".

Charlie Elphicke, an executive member of the1922 Committee of backbenchers, criticised MPs whose concerns about the leadership were revealed by the Daily Telegraph earlier today. Mr Elphicke spoke as Downing Street made clear Mr Cameron will not make changes in the face of pressure from the Tory benches.

Mr Elphicke said: “It is not the Prime Minister who needs to get a grip but colleagues on the backbenches who need to realise that government is not a cakewalk’.

“Given the poisonous inheritance from the Labour government, it was never going to be easy. But so far, the Government is doing a good job in difficult circumstances. Kris Hopkins, another Conservative MP, told the Spectator that MPs complaining about Mr Cameron’s approach risk “compromising” the Conservative Party.

Accusing critics of being egotistical, he added: “There should be constant challenge to the leadership, it shouldn’t start from the position of dislike for the Prime Minister”.

Some MPs have said they are concerned that Mr Cameron and his allies are seen are out-of-touch with the concerns of ordinary voters, worries sharpened by recent rows over the taxation of pasties and pensions.

John Redwood, a former Cabinet minister, said that the Prime Minister should avoid “phoney” attempts to conceal his privileged upbringing and focus on economic policy. » | James Kirkup, and Holly Watt | Monday, April 02, 2012

Budget 2012: Ed Miliband's Response
Labour leader accuses government of unveiling a millionaires' budget and says it marks the end of 'we are all in it together'

The Chancellor and the Dominatrix – UK
Watch Journeyman Pictures video here

Phone Hacking: George Osborne 'Owed' Andy Coulson, Says Lawyer

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: George Osborne faces questions over his relationship with Andy Coulson after it was suggested that he might have helped the former editor to get a job as David Cameron’s media adviser because he owed him “a favour”.

A solicitor representing victims of phone hacking by the News of the World during Mr Coulson’s time as editor suggested Mr Osborne was “almost indebted” to Mr Coulson because of the way the newspaper had covered allegations made by a prostitute that the MP had taken cocaine with her.

Mark Lewis said the newspaper had put “a gloss” on its reporting of Natalie Rowe’s claims that the Chancellor took the class A drug in the early 1990s, before he became an MP. “Andy Coulson had done George Osborne a favour,” he said. “Perhaps it was time for George Osborne to reciprocate and do a favour back.”

The Chancellor’s aides yesterday dismissed any suggestion that Mr Osborne had felt obliged to Mr Coulson, and also denied a series of other lurid allegations made by Miss Rowe in an interview with Australia’s ABC television network.


Mr Coulson’s appointment as David Cameron’s communications director has drawn criticism throughout Mr Cameron’s tenure as Tory leader. » | Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter | Monday, September 12, 2011

George Osborne Refuses to Reveal Cost of Libyan Operations

THE GUARDIAN: Chancellor's stance follows comments by Danny Alexander that intervention would reach 'hundreds of millions' of pounds

George Osborne has refused to be drawn on the cost of the Libyan intervention, following comments at the weekend by Danny Alexanderthat it would reach "hundreds of millions" of pounds.

The chancellor and his chief secretary to the Treasury, both present in the Commons, were pressed to confirm the figure by the shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, during Treasury questions. Balls said that in March the government had said the operation would cost "tens of millions not hundreds of millions". Instead it was announced there will be a Ministry of Defence statement next week.

On Sunday Alexander told Sky News: "The campaign is costing tens of millions, potentially into the hundreds of millions as it goes on, but that money is coming from the reserve that we have set aside, precisely for contingencies such as this."

When the military campaign started, the chancellor said the cost would be "in the order of tens of millions of pounds, not hundreds of millions".

Since then, defence economists have warned that it could reach £1bn if the campaign stretches on into the autumn. » | Allegra Stratton, political correspondent | Tuesday, June 21, 2011