Mike Wood

Astounding Sunday Times investigation reveals new scandal in SNP’s Socialist Scotland: 800 NHS, central government, council and quango workers whose jobs no longer exist but remain on the public payroll because of the SNP’s ‘no public-sector redundancy’ policy. Estimated cost of paying people to do nothing: £27m a year. One NHS Highland worker has been receiving a full salary and benefits for 17 years despite not having a specific job. The health board refused to say what the worker had been doing for almost two decades and how much they had been paid. Likely cost to the taxpayer is expected to be far higher with several public bodies refusing to disclose salaries for hundreds of the workers awaiting redeployment.

Stephen Kinnock’s claim that there were no boat people because we were in the European Union is a straightforward lie. Illegal immigrants flooded in by lorry, train and cars. They disappeared into towns/cities and couldn’t be properly counted. When advances in technology made these methods of transport much harder to use the illegal migrants took to boats, courtesy of the people smugglers. Since the boats are usually interdicted on arrival the counting is easier. Nothing to do with being in or out of the EU.

There’s a lot of self-serving spin emanating from the UK government about how virtuous it is re fiscal consolidation. Here are the facts. Labour inherited an OBR budget deficit forecast of £87bn (3.1% GDP) for FY2024/25. After R Reeves’ 1st disastrous budget the actual deficit was £153bn (5.2%). Massive jump. Labour inherited OBR budget deficit of £77bn (2.7%) for FY2025/26. After RR’s disastrous 2nd budget that turned out to be £133bn (4.3%). So in its first two years it added over £120bn to borrowing/deficit (despite huge increase in taxes). The OBR forecast it inherited for this FY2026/27 was £69bn (2.3%). It is now forecast to be £116bn (3.3%). That looks like an underestimate. More likely to be closer to £130bn again. Inherited budget forecast for 2027/28: £51bn (1.6%). Latest forecast: £97bn (2.9%). Inherited budget forecast for 2028/29: £39bn (1.2%). Latest forecast: £86bn (2.5%). Far from fiscal consolidation Labour is forecast to borrow an incredible £260bn more over the 5 years from 2024/25 than the forecasts it inherited. Despite the tax rises. Which will continue. Alone among G7 countries the IMF projects the UK tax burden to rise by 3.7% of GDP 2025-31. The only other country with a rising tax burden is France (0.8%). Italy is static. Rest of G7 have falling tax burden. And let’s not forget Labour’s so-called ‘fiscal consolidation’ is all backloaded to end-decade. Unlikely to happen. So taxes will have to rise by even more.