I was very optimistic about the United Kingdom less than five years ago. The Conservative Party had just won a landslide election and that presumably would lead to an acceptable form of Brexit, followed by some form of Singapore-on-Thames.
Well, the Tories did deliver on Brexit, but everything else want awry.
Instead of restraining spending and lowering tax rates, the Conservative Party went in the opposite direction: Higher taxes and a bigger spending burden.
But good news for “wet” Tories has been bad news for the people of the United Kingdom. Making Britain more like France has produced economic anemia.
And that means the Labour Party probably wins the next election in a landslide – which means even more bad policy.
The Wall Street Journal has an editorial about the envervating statism of the Conservative Party.
…the Tories have no one to blame but themselves. At least their predicament is a warning for others. ….Prime Minister Rishi Sunak…and Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt…rode into office promising a more “responsible” path to economic growth built around balancing the government budget. This became a plan by Mr. Hunt to tax the economy back into growth, which is the sort of nonsense voters expect from parties of the left. …Now British voters are stuck with high taxes and slow or no growth. Tax revenue at 36% of GDP is the highest since the immediate aftermath of World War II. ….The Tories have squandered former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s 2019 majority because they fell for the idea that tax-and-spend policies and onerous climate regulation would appeal to a coalition of working-class voters in the north and urban Tory wets. …They have earned their looming political demise.
That’s a very grim assessment.
However, writing for the U.K.-based Telegraph, Allister Heath is even more pessimistic.
We are an increasingly impoverished and indebted nation… We crave French-style levels of “free” public services… We have lost interest in working hard, in deferred gratification, in getting up in the morning even when we don’t feel like it, but want to retain our triple-locked pension, subsidised public transport and generous welfare state, policies backed by Tories and Labour alike. …we feel able to spend even more on the NHS and constantly hike the minimum wage. We want to spend and spend and spend yet more, encouraged by demagogic politicians who tell us that we can have it all, but have forgotten that the world doesn’t owe us a living. With no economic growth, and a dire outlook caused by 25 years of social-democratic idiocy, …The tax take is already at its highest level since the late 1940s, and yet the state is incapable of delivering its core functions. …Meanwhile, billions are being spent on the rush to net zero, on “free” museums for the middle classes, on rocketing benefits bills and on endless woke madness. …In 1972, there were 4.5 workers per pensioner, today, it’s 3.3 and by 2072 there will only be 1.9 workers per pensioner.
As you can see, Allister isn’t just worried about bad policy.
I realize that some readers may not care about the future of the United Kingdom. That being said, there are some ominous parallels with the United States.
P.S. Some Tory apologists argued that at least you get managerial competence when the Conservative Party is in charge. If you read this, this, and this, you’ll be disabused of that notion. The failure of the NHS, after being showered with more tax dollars, is a perfect (in a bad way) example.
P.P.S. Those apologists also say that bad policy is sometimes necessary for political reasons. But it appears that Tories will suffer a giant defeat in the next election, so perhaps they should have tried good policy rather than claiming that the era of “free-market fundamentalism” was over.
Dan Mitchell is co-founder of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity and Chairman of the Board. He is an expert in international tax competition and supply-side tax policy.
