they disappear within 48 hours, manifestos seldom matter. Yet everyone recalls the 2017 Tory “dementia tax” to fund social care that was hastily dropped days later—one reason why this year’s Conservative prospectus is so bland. And manifestos count in government, as well as setting the tone for an election. This time, the three main ones offer two related themes—and, in the shape of Brexit, one big elephant in the room.
That said, the parties’ spending priorities are similar. All three promise to pay extra tribute to the insatiable National Health Service, to education and to policing. There is new enthusiasm for help with child care, with the Lib Dems being the most generous. Labour reveals a fondness for universal freedom in scrapping prescription charges and university tuition fees and promising free broadband for all.
As for the tax-cutting Tories, they want to raise the threshold for national-insurance contributions , but only in stages, and they too would reverse some planned corporation-tax cuts. They also renew their promise of no increases in income tax, value-added tax ors. Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, another think-tank, calls this irresponsible given the prospective rising tax burden to cope with demographic change.
Britain is going to get poorer. Personally I think it’s a good opportunity for other nations to take advantage of them and buy up their foreign assets for pennies on the dollar. They’ll have nobody covering their backs. We Americans should take their holdings here.
Lots of lose ends
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