Westminster Notes - A budget that adds fuel to the economic fire

The budget which has been delivered, however, is hugely concerning for WASPI women, farmers, pubs, Scotch whisky, every employer, workers and very worryingly for the Money Markets.

It’s universally agreed that the previous Tory ‘mini budget’ under Prime Minister Liz Truss was devastating for the economy, household incomes, and the cost of public and personal borrowing.

The aftershocks of this calamity didn’t clear up when the media moved on to other issues, but endure and compound previous mistakes. The UK hobbles under catastrophically low productivity and growth for which the Tories blame workers and Labour blame the Tories, and colossal debt. In truth they share the blame for a malaise approximately as old as I am (1973).

This mountain of debt, for which the previous Government blamed the war in Ukraine and COVID exclusively despite these crises adding less than a quarter of the £2800 Billion UK debt, is nearing four times the figure in 2010.

The UK’s addiction to borrowing since the early 70s saw £102 Billion spent last year on debt interest alone. When you owe this much, a chancellor delivers a budget less for the benefit of the people and more to appease the bond markets.

Almost all governments borrow, it’s normal and desirable to borrow to invest in state infrastructure in order to grow the economy, with the goal of generating a return on the capital you borrow, which will keep delivering for the economy long after the debt is repaid.

But the UK for a long time has been borrowing just to pay the bills, to compensate for the economy tanking because of austerity, Brexit, the withering of the industrial base, a neurotic approach to immigration and ever-increasing reliance on low paying insecure work for millions. It’s my assessment that the UK economy, in which Scotland along with London and the Southeast are among the better performing sectors, is fundamentally broken and this budget serves to make matters considerably worse.