Blog Fiscal rules have failed taxpayers It wasn’t supposed to be like this. When taxpayers were first introduced to fiscal rules, we were told they would limit public sector debt to prudent and stable levels. Yet three decades later, we find ourselves on the hook for debts of almost £3 trillion (£3,000,000,000,
Blog Dicing with debt Since the turn of the millennium public sector debt as a percentage of GDP has tripled. It is now around 100 per cent of GDP and on official forecasts, set to go on increasing. The Office for Budget Responsibility projects that on unchanged policies it will be around 300 per
Blog Tina is heading our way She’s never welcome, but Tina, or the point where politicians are finally forced to accept that there is no alternative, is heading back our way. The combination of Rachel Reeves’ disastrous tax-borrow-and-spend budget, longer-term fiscal numbers that have never added up, and a sell-off in global bond markets, makes
Blog How much of our money does the government waste overall? British taxpayers are struggling under a record tax burden. It’s been driven by a huge increase in public spending, which over the last quarter century has ballooned under both Labour and Conservative governments. The one constant trend over this period: much of it will have been wasted. Since the
Blog Reeves' risky rule change could end up costing taxpayers The chancellor recently told the BBC that she will be changing the debt rules to rely on a different measure of debt, public sector net financial liabilities rather than public sector net debt. This has been done to allow the government to borrow even more money, although she said it
Blog Will new fiscal rules help taxpayers? It’s now been confirmed that the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will set out new fiscal rules in her forthcoming budget. By reformulating the rules to include public sector assets as well as debt, she hopes to provide more fiscal headroom for infrastructure investment. As she puts it: “I have been
