BRIAN READE: 'Britain's a financial mess - we must pay more tax to fix Tory mistakes'
If voters were asked for the one trait they would dearly love to see more of in politicians, the vast majority would cite honesty.
Imagine if Keir Starmer had said this week: 'I now back a Palestinian state - not because of the slaughter in Gaza, but because my MPs are so appalled by it I might lose hundreds of them if I don't distance myself from the IDF butchers. And from now on I'll come clean after every U-turn.' You'd think more of him, wouldn't you?
Imagine if Kemi Badenoch said: 'The main reason the population of England and Wales has shot up by 2.6 million since 2020 is not the small boats but right-wingers like me selling you the myth that Brexit would let us take back control of our borders. Well, we were lying.' Again, you'd think more of her.
Now imagine if Rachel Reeves levelled with us by saying: 'Us politicians have been selling you a false illusion that we can have world-class public services and low taxation. We can't. It's why Britain is broken. And so, being Labour, we're going for world-class public services, and that means reneging on our manifesto pledge and raising direct taxes.'
Now you might not like the idea of paying more tax but you would probably agree with her appraisal of the financial mess we are in, and how the most urgent issue we face is the abject state of virtually every public service we once treasured.
When Labour took office last year, ministers proclaimed that 'the grown-ups are back in charge'. Why not prove it by having an adult conversation with us and spelling out the facts of life?
That we're living way beyond our means and cannot dig our way out of a financial black hole by cutting public services because the Tories slashed them to the bone, and made the coffers emptier with two cynical pre-election National Insurance cuts to try to save their skin. And with an ageing population and increased defence spending, things will only get bleaker. So we all need to pay more tax, with those who earn the most paying the most. Like we used to.
When I started work in 1976 the basic rate of tax was 35%. Then along came tax-slashing Margaret Thatcher, but even when she left office in 1990 the basic rate stood at 25%. As successive governments have cut that since, today's basic rate is 20%. In Holland it's 36.93%, Belgium is 25% and Italy 23%.
If we lifted the basic rate back to what it was under Thatcher we'd raise £34.5 billion a year. But that won't happen. Yet lifting it only one per cent would raise £8.2 billion a year by the end of this parliament. Lifting the higher rate, reinstating the 50% rate George Osborne dropped, and bringing in a wealth tax for those with assets above £10 million would raise many more billions. And prove we're all doing our bit.
I'm sure the majority of British people want to see first-class public services and are prepared to pay for them. Certainly the ones who elected this government.
After an ineffective and almost apologetic year in power, it's time for Labour to go on the offensive by not just fighting for the kind of country they believe in.
But by being honest and telling us we have to pay for it.
***
A few thoughts on the Lionesses' remarkable victory against the odds.
How refreshing it was to see English football fans enjoying themselves without singing about shooting down German bombers, and those back home in pubs not hurling pints into the air whenever a goal was scored.
What a wonderful two fingers to the money-obsessed men who run football that the women's Euros in Switzerland (where the prize was £34million) was deemed far more exciting and watchable than the mainly ignored men's Club World Cup in America (total prize money £743million).
And how ludicrous is our honours system that some MPs are demanding every England player is made a dame. Yet had they lost the final there may have been the odd call to give them CBEs.
Meaning, in the eyes of those who believe in it, the highest honour the British state can bestow on a woman depended on a couple of Spaniards taking better penalties. How absurd.
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PORN star Bonny Blue, who is proud to have slept with 1,057 men in 12 hours, describes her job as being 'a bit like a community worker'.
And I'm sure many Tories agree with that as they think everyone who does social work lays on their back all day screwing the taxpayer.
Much criticism has come the multi-millionaire's way after a Channel 4 documentary on her this week, but I think she is simply someone who has compromised with her childhood dream of being a midwife. By working in more-or-less the same area.
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Rather than walk away with a shred of dignity, shamed ex-MasterChef host Gregg Wallace continues to keep on digging a hole so furiously he may soon reach Australia.
Rather than walk away with a shred of dignity, shamed ex-MasterChef host Gregg Wallace continues to keep on digging a hole so furiously he may soon reach Australia.
According to him, despite 45 separate complaints about his inappropriate behaviour being upheld by the BBC, he is a serial victim, not perpetrator, of sleaziness: 'My God... have you got any idea how many times suggestive comments have been made to me? How many times I've been groped?' is his latest defence.
Well I'll have a stab in the dark, mate. And say somewhere in the ballpark of none.
***
THE WEEK'S FIVE BIG QUESTIONS:
Tommy Robinson fleeing the country as police want to question him over a vicious assault at a London railway station. What a brave leader, eh? What a hero.
When did we decide that unless you had money to queue-jump it was impossible to get a tooth taken out or sit a driving test in the UK?
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If England's female footballers continue to show themselves to be in a superior class to the males, how long before we see women explaining the offside rule to their partners?
Is there anything more hypocritical than high-profile expats who've moved abroad to pay less tax whining about migrants coming to the UK to make a better life?
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Spectator
36 minutes ago
- Spectator
Reeves couldn't be more proud of crippling the economy
Rachel Reeves strode onto the stage at the Edinburgh festival in a black jumpsuit and an orange scarf. Iain Dale, in a dark maroon jacket, kicked with a dare. 'Try, if you can, not to use the phrase '13 wasted Tory years' or '22 billion pound black hole.'' 'What else am I going to talk about?' said Reeves. She's a much warmer and funnier soul than her TV image suggests. Dale asked about the awkward moment when she wept during PMQs in June. 'I was having a bit of a day, a difficult day at work,' she said vaguely. 'There was stuff going on. But it's different for me. The cameras are on me. But most people have days at work when they cry.' Dale asked if her troubles had been exacerbated by the Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch, who mentioned in the chamber that she 'was looking miserable.' 'Well, it was a fact, wasn't it,' said Reeves. So why not just skip PMQs? asked Dale. 'I thought I was OK,' she said. 'Obviously, I wasn't. But I thought I was.' Dale asked about her childhood and her early involvement in politics. Her parents were primary school teachers who voted Labour but weren't party members. Aged 17, appalled by the ruinous state of her school, she decided to join the Bromley Labour party. 'The playground was freezing in winter and the library had been converted into a classroom. There just weren't enough textbooks to go round.' She was inspired by Blair's slogan, 'education, education, education' and she campaigned in the 1997 election alongside her younger sister, Ellie, now an MP and chair of the Labour party. At university, she was known as a political wonk and her friends bought her a framed portrait of Gordon Brown for her 19th birthday. The chancellorship, she said, was always in her sights. 'The office has existed for 800 years and it's about time we had a female chancellor. But it shouldn't have taken 800 years.' After Labour's victory last July, she invited Brown to the Treasury which he hadn't visited since 2007. She asked him how old he was when he became chancellor. He told her he couldn't remember. 'I'm only 46,' she said. This jogged his memory. 'Well, I was 45.' Dale asked if Brown likes to call her and offer political advice. 'He doesn't phone,' she said. 'He sends me emails with quite a lot of capital letters.' And does he point out her mistakes? 'No. But he does have a lot of ideas,' she said diplomatically. Brown isn't the only former chancellor who wants access to his successor. She's on friendly terms with Rishi Sunak's chancellor, Jeremy Hunt. 'Jeremy's been in Number 11 a couple of times, had a cup of tea with me, and given good advice.' Dale asked if she expected to meet Donald Trump on his forthcoming state visit and she didn't seem to care either way. 'I suppose so,' she said, airily. 'I met Macron a few weeks ago.' Did she have a message for Trump? She ducked the question and praised her own government. 'We've got our trade deal with the US. One of the best trade deals in the world. At the G7, all the finance ministers want to find out how we got our trade deal.' Dale invited her to say a word in favour of Brexit which enabled the UK to dodge the tariffs levied by America on the EU. She refused to do so. Instead she talked about the levels of global investment arriving in Britain. She mentioned a figure of '£125 billion' but much of this involves carbon capture and renewables produced by GB Energy. The funds are being underwritten by state subsidies. 'We're investing public money to leverage in that private money,' she said. In other words, foreign investors are being bribed to set up shop in the UK. But she likes anything that involves net zero. She regards the Labour party as the saviour of this self-harming energy policy. 'The Tories legislated for [net zero] but are rowing back on it. And Reform are coming out with all sorts of conspiracy theories.' Asked if she regretted any part of her 2024 budget, she gave herself a glowing review. She even praised the wildly unpopular National Insurance rise because it allowed her to sink an extra £25 billion in the NHS. The UK economy is in great shape, she seems to believe. And she twice quoted this odd-looking statistic. 'In the first quarter of this year, the UK had the fastest growing economy in the G7.' Dale asked about Your Party (or 'Jezbollah' as he called it) created by Jeremy Corbyn and Zara Sultana. Reeves laid the blame on Corbyn's hunger for power despite failing to become prime minister in 2017 and 2019. 'He gave us Labour's worst result since 1935. He's been rejected twice. But he's got a big ego.' Reeves is surprisingly cool about introducing new wealth taxes. She said the government already takes a big chunk with inheritance tax and capital gains tax. 'I'm not keen to do what Switzerland does with a wealth tax. And we may lose money.' But her abiding instinct is to expand the state and to pay for it by increasing taxes. A hard-left questioner from the floor asked her to 'stop scoring own goals' and tax people more. 'But we have increased taxes,' she cried in outrage. 'Last year's was the biggest tax-raising budget ever.' That's how she thinks. She's crippling the economy and she couldn't be more proud.
Telegraph
37 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Recognising Palestinian state would destabilise international law, Starmer told
Sir Keir Starmer has been warned that recognising a Palestinian state would 'destabilise' the international legal order. Malcolm Shaw KC, a leading lawyer, said that the recognition plan 'would create a troublesome precedent and could well challenge and ultimately destabilise an international system founded upon a common understanding of what it is to be a state'. The fresh legal opinion, seen by The Telegraph, was circulated to the Prime Minister, Lord Hermer, the Attorney General, and dozens of influential Labour MPs. It was commissioned by Lord Mendelsohn, the Labour peer, in response to Sir Keir's decision to recognise a State of Palestine in September unless Israel meets certain conditions. The warning comes after Hamas made it clear it will not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established. The militant group took the step of issuing a statement 'in response to media reports quoting US envoy Steve Witkoff, claiming [Hamas] has shown willingness to disarm'. It said: 'We reaffirm that resistance and its arms are a legitimate national and legal right as long as the occupation continues. 'This right is recognised by international laws and norms, and it cannot be relinquished except through the full restoration of our national rights - first and foremost, the establishment of an independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.' Hamas added that Mr Witkoff's trip on Friday to a Gaza aid distribution site was 'designed to mislead public opinion, polish the image of the occupation, and provide it with political cover for its starvation campaign and continued systematic killing of defenceless children and civilians in the Gaza Strip'. Mr Shaw's legal opinion says the Prime Minister's plan to recognise the state of Palestine is 'premature and may have unintended consequences' and that it 'confuses and distorts' any attempt at a peaceful two-state solution. 'A prize for precipitating war' He describes Sir Keir's decision to make statehood dependent on the behaviour of Israel, a 'third country', as 'remarkable'. 'This is exceptional and, frankly, not in keeping with the tenor of the relevant international principles,' he wrote. 'Recognition at the current time will be seen as a prize for precipitating the war on Oct 7 2023 with its attendant rapes and massacres.' Mr Shaw also argues that the Palestinian territories 'do not currently satisfy' the criteria for a state. Some 40 peers warned this week that recognising Palestine in the process set out by the Prime Minister would be illegal. They included Lord Pannick KC and Lady Deech, both respected lawyers and patrons of UK Lawyers for Israel, an association of British lawyers who are supportive of Israel. Lord Hermer is understood to have disagreed with their arguments and dismissed their claim. But Mr Shaw's opinion could pile further pressure on the Government to reconsider its legal position with regards to recognition. He further argues that since both Israel and the Palestinian territories are still bound by the Oslo Accords, the agreement that remains the legal framework that governs the relationship between Israel and the Palestinians, proper recognition at this time is not possible. Mr Shaw, who is the author of a standard legal textbook on international law, is currently representing Israel in its International Court of Justice (ICJ) case against South Africa, which argued that Israeli forces had committed genocidal acts in Gaza. While Sir Keir has always agreed to the principle of recognising a Palestinian state at some point, he was reluctant to do so until his surprise announcement this week. The Prime Minister appears to have been influenced by a number of factors, including the worsening starvation crisis in Gaza, pressure from international allies such as Emmanuel Macron, and increasingly vocal calls for immediate recognition from his own MPs. The setting up of a rival Left-wing political party under Jeremy Corbyn which calls for an independent Palestinian state may have also put pressure on Sir Keir to act. On Saturday, protesters from the activist group Youth Demand blocked roads in the Holland Park and King's Cross areas of London as they called for an immediate British trade embargo on Israel. On Thursday, Labour MPs supportive of Israel reportedly clashed with Jonathan Powell, Sir Keir's national security adviser, in a meeting about the recognition announcement.
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
At long last, John Swinney has seen what grown-up politics is about
Mr Swinney and his fellow SNP ministers routinely like to churn out anti-Trump rhetoric seemingly because they think that'll garner them a few votes. But the reality of grown-up politics in which Mr Swinney has been obliged to indulge for just a few hours is that dialogue, pragmatism and diplomacy are key weapons in the armoury of a successful politician, not the kind of puerile sidelines sniping that's characteristic of the [[SNP]]. [[Donald Trump]] isn't my cup of tea either, but let's not forget that he leads the world's largest economy. I'm certain Keir Starmer has multiple reservations about Mr Trump, yet he, unlike Mr Swinney, heads up a sovereign state and has both a domestic and international remit – he can't wallow in Swinney-style futile populist virtue-signalling. Martin Redfern, Melrose. Knocking Labour off course Labour is on the way to running out of road for its long-term ambitions. All the MPs were elected on the same ticket with a destination in view and a driver to steer them in the right direction. They all want to reach the same destination but many of them differ with the driver on how fast they should proceed and what is the best route to reach their goal. It all boils down to how much they trust the driver and whether they can accept his gradualist approach. In today's world it would appear that everyone knows better than the people in charge and would like to impose their opinions on the ones whose skill got them on to the bus of government. In every walk of life you have to tailor your ambitions to fit in with the means at your disposal to hit those heights. Furthermore no one wishes to be compared to reckless teenagers who scream from the back of the bus for the driver to go faster, to take chances or to take a more direct route. Paying attention to excited MPs could lead to totalling the whole project the Government is trying to put in place. Do those MPs really want to jeopardise their chances of a second term in government with their short-sighted perspectives by showing that they cannot see the woods for the trees? Failure to take the global picture into consideration will run their bus off the road with regard to the Government's ambitions to improve the running of the UK for every level of the electorate. There is an old Roman tale about how the different organs and functions of the human body need to work together in harmony to achieve its desired results. It would be well worth the time of Labour MPs to reflect upon that. Denis Bruce, Bishopbriggs. Read more letters Why not protest something important? So activists have been dangling themselves off the Forth Road Bridge over another issue which is of marginal, if any, concern to the rest of us ("Police arrest 10 Greenpeace activists after bridge protest", July 27). When have we seen such activists glueing themselves to the highway, roosting on motorway gantries, or dangling from bridges and buildings over anything that matters to the Many? Over out of control immigration? The housing shortage? The cost of living crisis? Lack of opportunities for our young people? The epidemic of stabbings and other lawlessness? The answer, of course, is that the narcissistic Few are completely indifferent to the plight of ordinary people. Whether they perform as Just Stop Oil, Climate Rebellion, Stand Up To Racism, or under whatever name, the extreme demands and their callous disregard for the interests of the Many are always the same. Otto Inglis, Crossgates, Fife. Such a sad life story Richard Holloway's life story ("The Bishop who abandoned God", July 27) is one of the saddest I have read. He is caught up in an orthodox version of the Christian world, and seemingly missing the most basic and fundamental uniqueness of this faith; put off by tradition and hypocrisy that he encountered in the various stages of his religious career. It strikes me that his experience of religious life is strikingly similar to the religious pomposity of the Pharisees of the 1st century, when Jesus was alive. Their religion was one of rules and regulations, burdensome traditions and rituals that were impossible to follow. They made life so difficult for the layperson, and were 100% convinced they were right. Their superiority and controlling natures led them eventually to crucify Jesus Christ, whom they hated with a vengeance, because he did not fit in with their version of religion. Richard Holloway appears to be very knowledgeable about various religions, yet he clearly has missed the whole theme of the Bible, that God, the Creator, loves his creatures with an unending love, yet seeks truth and justice from his people. A God whose love is so immense that, to deal with the root problem of the human race, "sin", he allowed his one and only Son, Jesus, to die on that cross... taking all the pain and sorrow and evil of the world upon himself. This is, I admit, a profound mystery; yet it is the foundational truth that resonates throughout the whole Bible. This same God does not ask us to "obey rules" or to "follow religious traditions"... He asks us to trust him, and to commit our lives to him... he longs for a relationship with us humans; longs that we speak with him, listen to him, and experience the love, the joy, and the peace that comes with him. Trying, as so many do, like Richard Holloway, to follow Christ's teaching without following Christ, is actually impossible, for his teaching demands impossible standards that only he can help us meet, in the strength he provides. I could go on and on, for Richard Holloway's story is so incredibly sad. He says "religion left me"; but Jesus Christ says, "I came to seek out and to rescue those who are lost in this world" – and that is all of us. He has not yet given up on Richard Holloway, and my earnest prayer is that he will truly find the Lord, who died for him, and who was raised from the dead. Now, that truth makes Jesus unique, and worth following. May God bless Richard Holloway, and all who are yearning for truth, and true fulfilment; these are found in God himself. Alasdair HB Fyfe, Carmunnock. Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh (Image: Newsquest) Reasons behind Russia's actions Ronald Cameron (Letters, July 27) says that "Ukraine has come close to destroying the Russian war machine". Mr Cameron has got it the wrong way round. Russia has come close to destroying Ukraine' s army. Ukraine is in the position Germany was in in 1944, fighting losing battles, the war effectively lost, but continuing to lash out with deadly but strategically pointless missile strikes. The writing is on the wall for President Zelenskyy and his gang. Mr Cameron repeats the false claim that Russia is going to invade Nato's eastern border, but the fact is that Russian fears invasion from the West more than we fear them. In 1812 Napoleon burned Moscow. In 1854 Britain and France invaded Crimea. In 1918 Germany invaded Russia and Russia lost one million square miles of territory at the subsequent Treaty of Brest Litovsk. Britain, Canada and the United States invaded Russia between 1918 and 1925. In 1941 German forces were at the gates of Moscow and on their retreat destroyed virtually everything. President Eisenhower, then Supreme Commander Allied Forces in Europe, wrote: "When we flew into Russia, in 1945, I did not see a house standing between the western borders of the country and the area around Moscow." Declassified official documents record that in February 1997 the then Prime Minister John Major said: "If I were Russian I too would be concerned that Nato might move up to Russia's borders." Since then Nato has expanded to 32 countries. Russia warned repeatedly from 2008 that Ukraine's admission to Nato was a red line. The coup of 2014 which brought a nationalist government hostile to Russia to power resulted in a civil war between the eastern Russian-speaking provinces and the Kiev regime, which bombed and shelled them for eight years. Russia invaded in their support and to prevent Nato forces on a border which geographically is difficult to defend. Flying the Ukraine flag is risible. William Loneskie, Lauder. • Ronald Cameron contradicts himself. First he writes that "we" (presumably the UK) must do "everything possible" to support Ukraine, but then "there are plenty of better things to spend the money on". Come on, money can't be spent twice, so which is it to be ? George Morton, Rosyth. Off pat Rab McNeil's excellent article on Dougie MacLean ('Singer made every ex-pat yearn for home … and a pint', July 27) was interesting but its headline ignored the fact that an ex-soldier is someone who used to be a soldier, an ex-teacher is someone who used to be teacher and an ex-pat is someone who used to be a pat. If text space is so scarce that an abbreviation for expatriate is needed, it is expat, no hyphen being involved. Peter Dryburgh, Edinburgh.
