The UK has to earn its living

The Opposition parties in Parliament think the UK needs to spend more in the public sector. They think better off people and  businesses should pay more in tax. They think business should be made to use less fossil fuel, import many more things that need high energy inputs, charge lower prices and be more controlled by the state.

They support the steps the present government has taken to  make it more difficult to be self employed, to impose windfall taxes on sectors enjoying a temporary period of high profits, to impose EU regulations on Northern Ireland, to make our Corporation Tax rate less competitive, to introduce price controls on energy. Their complaint is these measures do not go far enough. They want to do more of the same. Taxes must all be higher for longer.

They do not ask themselves why people and companies with money should come to the UK to invest and to create jobs if they are to face higher taxes on success, with price controls and nationalisation threats whether you succeed or not.  They never side with the self employed though they often individually rely on them to provide the services they need at home for their own lives. They do not offer anything by way of encouragement or support for small businesses, struggling with a low EU designed VAT threshold. They do not see how rent controls, higher costs imposed on landlords and higher taxes will cut the number of homes for private rentals just when we are already short of properties.

Opposition parties running Councils are particularly keen to stop people going to work, taking children to school or going to the shops by  car. Extra taxes for congestion and emission zones, bans on certain types of vehicle, reduction of road space, high parking charges and the rest whittle away at the number of self employed and small businesses that remain to serve the public and keep town centres alive. Self employment  has fallen 700,000 this decade before all these measures have been put in place .

The UK needs to be much friendlier to business and to those who will  venture and work hard to serve others.The last thing we need is more interference from politicians claiming to help consumers but ending up with too little capacity and a general decline in the UK’s capacity to earn a living.