It is now widely accepted that Rachel Reeves' October budget had a profoundly negative impact on the UK economy and this was reflected in the IMF downgrading its growth forecast from the projected 1.6% growth for 2025 it issued in January and the 1.5% forecast it issued in October.
Richard Fuller MP, who recorded this video https://youtu.be/1cjqaIVJurM?si=jpSu0ZIzkPOd1wWm said:
In her fiscal statement in March, the Chancellor tried to blame the economic downturn on the tariffs imposed by President Trump. Unfortunately for the Labour government, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reduced its forecast for UK growth in April by 0.5% for the current financial year and stated categorically that the bulk of this reduction is fuelled by the decisions taken in the last budget.
0.5% of doesn't sound like a lot however in cash terms in equates to approximately £14 billion. According to The King's Fund charity, £14 billion would run the NHS in England for a whole month, it would pay the salaries of 365,000 nurses for an entire year, or would cover the annual budget of 14 of England's largest hospitals. For those concerned about the current parlous state of geopolitics, £14 billion would almost pay for renewing 2 of the Trident submarine fleet with the new Dreadnought-class submarines. And finally, for those who would like to see more prison places so that violent offenders don't get released after serving only 40% of their sentences, £14 billion would pay for roughly 70 new prisons to be built.
My point is that the Chancellor's incompetence has real world impacts on all of our lives. The public has long since seen through the confected £22 billion black hole, and they won't fall for the excuse that it's all Donald Trump's fault. Rachel Reeves in tandem with Keir Starmer have to own this mess that they've made, and sadly for all of us, things are only going to continue to deteriorate while they remain in charge.
