Even before the dust has settled on Chancellor Rachel Reeves‘s Budget, it is becoming increasingly apparent that it will be disastrous for Britain.
Imposing tax increases on a scale rarely seen outside of wartime, recession or pandemic, and embarking on a colossal borrowing binge to fund public services, she has taken a huge gamble with the economy.
By throwing obstacles in the way of business, she risks replicating the stagnation afflicting Europe’s major economies – eking out meagre growth at best.
The most damning verdict came from the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies yesterday, which warned Britain faces a ‘decade of high taxes’ without any grip on spending.
Even as the Chancellor admitted that, yes, workers would actually be poorer thanks to her National Insurance hike, the Left-wing Resolution Foundation think-tank was warning that living standards would dwindle.
The Chancellor Rachel Reeves (pictured) has taken a huge gamble on the British economy by introducing some of the highest non-wartime taxation increases ever seen
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) praised the Chancellor’s budget as ‘sustainable’
It spoke volumes that the one organisation to pat Ms Reeves on the back was the International Monetary Fund, which praised her eye-watering tax rises as ‘sustainable’.
But the IMF is simply cock-a-hoop to have a Left-wing government in Britain. While the Tories were in power, its predictions were excessively negative (and usually wrong).
The organisation is wedded to the social democratic nostrums of a big state, high taxes and stifling regulation, and has no time for spending cuts. In Sir Keir Starmer‘s socialist Labour party, it has a kindred spirit.
Still, it’s useful for Ms Reeves to cosy up to the IMF. If the economy goes into freefall, we might need to beg it for a bailout – just like the hapless Labour government in 1976.
A threat to farming:
SIR Keir Starmer went to great lengths before the election to win over Britain’s rural communities. Labour understood the concerns of the traditionally Tory shires, he said. ‘Every day seems to bring a new existential threat to farming.’
How ironic that the threat now comes from Sir Keir’s government. The countryside is up in arms after Ms Reeves scrapped inheritance tax relief on agricultural land.
This means most farms will be forced to pay large sums in death duties. Many will have no option but to sell up to pay the bill, destroying businesses held by families for generations and destabilising food security.
One of the biggest bones of contention with this week’s Labour budget was the scrapping of inheritance tax relief on agricultural land
Tuesday’s budget signified Rachel Reeves’ first as Chancellor, but it will not be the only time we see her hike taxes, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies
But why would Labour be bothered? They calculate their voter base is predominantly urban, so it does little political harm. And if it means green fields can be sold off for solar farms or new housing, all the better.
Farmers work back-breakingly hard to keep society fed. Their hours are long. And because of their careful stewardship, our countryside remains a precious asset.
Any fair-minded government would shower them with rewards, not hit them a punishing and pernicious new tax. As Sir Keir, while schmoozing the rural vote, himself said: ‘Farmers deserve better.’