It seems that I
may have been a little unfair to the leader of the Conservatives in Wales the
other day, when I said that “His
faith in the power of a penny off tax to turn round an economy is touching”. From today’s news, it
appears that I undersold him by a penny, and omitted the proposed 5p cut for
the more well-off taxpayers.
Coming hot on
the heels of a report drawing attention to the huge fiscal deficit which Wales
has, promising to maintain spending on health and increase spending on schools
along with a host of other costly pledges, and at the same time cutting the
income available to pay for it looks more than a little reckless. He talks about turning Wales into the ‘low-tax
capital of the UK’, but where is the evidence that doing so will bring any
economic benefit in the long term, let alone the short term?
I suppose that
deliberately proposing to increase Wales’ fiscal gap will allow unionists such
as himself to continue to argue that Wales can’t be independent because of the ever larger fiscal transfer from the rest of the UK, but it
doesn’t look like the action of anyone who seriously wants Wales to take more
responsibility for its own financial future.
Posts
3 comments:
This move increases the Welsh deficit unless they cut £360m of services.
Tories in the audience when Leanne Wood was on that BBC programme were whooping with joy about the Welsh deficit being so bad.
They say they won't cut health so what's left to take £360m of pain? This is austerity on stilts and shows the Tories aren't an alternative to the dead hand of Labour.
Your last paragraph is right on the money.
The English learnt hard lesson from defending their colonies , they could not understand why those in America got so uppity and ungrateful, so they changed their tack and sent teachers around the world to sell the advantages of “progress” and English values and supremacy, but that was their mistake ,as was so often pointed out to me by government officials I met in past colonies in Asia and the Far East ,in that they believed the natives would always see the advantages of being cared for by such a superior race.
The English view Wales as an outstanding success (the Tory statement you quote is a classic) in that we are cowed and timid (unlike those ungrateful people in Scotland) and realise that we are not capable of being normal.
Any kind of dependency (like drugs) have their pushers and all parties in Cardiff (I am sad to say Plaid is right in there) are in the process of claiming that they can push this drug better than the others, with the subliminal message, - be grateful and realise you are not capable of living without England`s tender care.
The Scottish, Welsh and even some Irish also participated in the Empire so calling it 'English' isn't accurate.
Plaid never says 'be grateful' for the situation Wales is in. Casually lumping Plaid with the other parties, regardless of what they do that you don't agree with, never stands up to scrutiny.
Post a Comment