Balancing The Books

In the last few days as Gordon Brown's administration has revealed the plan to borrow more money in the next 2 years than all the previous British Governments since the Act of Union in 1707 - not just more than any previous single government but more than all the previous governments put together. It is an extraordinary achievement that should, if nothing else, secure Gordon Brown a place in the Guinness Book of Records - the government that saddled the country with the most massive, astronomical public debt in history. Now, assuming that during their period of quantitative easing [printing money], for their next trick they do not finally bankrupt us, we will have to work out a scheme to get the country's balance sheet back on a firm footing. So what do we do?

On this matter Gordon Brown and his crew are strangely reticent. Addressing the blindingly obvious first: the government will have to stop spending money. Now, whenever anyone suggests such a thing we are told it means fewer nurses and doctors. It does not. First we tackle the monster wastes. Let us start with the nuclear submarines. No Trident replacement. We do not need nuclear submarines capable of launching monster bombs that can destroy the world. It is doubtful if we ever needed these weapons, although, I suppose that as long as we maintained the posture of a world power, they were a virility symbol. They are irrelevant now. Second. do not build the two huge aircraft carriers. Even now, no one knows why we needed them. Third, do not get involved in any more wars except where we really are defending Britain. Iraq and Afghanistan were not essential wars for the defense of Britain and, indeed, have made our home security worse.

On the Home Front : No more vast data bases; no ID cards; no more surveillance; and concentrate on a vast simplification of administration. This last is vital. This government, more than any in our history - another first - has complicated everything and generated more bureaucracy. I understand that our tax manual - guidance notes - stretches to 10,000 pages. This another World Record. How can this be? It is bureaucracy gone totally mad. About 26 years ago, the former leader of the Liberal Party, Jo Grimond, wrote an article in The Guardian in which he suggested that the Thatcher government would do us all a service if they promised to introduce no new legislation for ten years. They would have to introduce an annual budget and tinker with tax rates etc., but new legislation would there be none. This would [a] save money and [b] allow everybody to get to grips with running the system without the constant tinkering - most of which served little purpose anyway. The existing government could take this on board and save us countless billions spent incorporating the numerous changes and shifting paper about. It would be good for the environment, as well.

So there are some ideas. Taxes will have to rise but I think I would save the country a few hundred billions of pounds. But will it happen? No, of course not. This government will spend us into oblivion employing arms of consultants along the way. Will David Cameron be better? I doubt it. He needs to be elected on a manifesto full of blank pages and that really would be a challenge for a politician.