Suggestion for the Chancellor

The long-suffering Conservative Policy Forum, that organisation of party members who are told they have a role in shaping Party policy have just been asked, with a one week deadline for a response, ahead of a Budget 2019 on Wednesday 6 November, to provide suggestions for the Chancellor.  Sajid Javid, apparently, would value receiving our best ideas and recommendations on measures to help "back taxpayers and grow the economy."  I’ll bet he does - with global trade and growth stagnating and domestic borrowing on the rise again I should imagine any cunning plans would be very welcome.  As it is, he will have to invent a new rule to keep him honest about borrowing and loading more debt on our successors. 

Sadly, given the partisan stalemate in Parliament, it is tempting to conclude that any submission to the Chancellor would be as symbolic as his proposed budget and that we should ignore the invitation to contribute because it is pointless.  But let us at least try?

Mushroom has a suggestion:  in round figures, the cost of running Parliament runs to about £550 million per year, roughly the equivalent of operating, for example, the Department of Education.  We may feel that the cost of running education is taxation well-spent.  On the other hand, we are reminded by the Institute for Government website that “there is much about Parliament’s role in democracy – representing citizens, enacting legislation, facilitating debate and scrutinising government – that cannot simply have a price tag attached to it.”  Quite so but in the current climate that cost benefit is somewhat opaque.  Delaying Brexit is, according to the BBC, costing UK plc £1 billion per month (gross) in contributions.  If businesses start losing money, those that will survive will cut costs quickly.    Shedding labour is an obvious starting point.  So how about we shed Parliament?  If each of 650 Honourable members earns at least £80,000 per year, not including expenses and the premiums for ministerial office etc, we could save the taxpayer at least £52 million per year at a stroke by dismissing the lot of them.  We should not be too concerned about adding to the unemployment budget since most honourable members seem to be qualified in law and should be able to turn their hand in conveyancing or contract law, particularly PFI, fairly readily.  With the proceeds, Mushroom recommends compensating small businesses for the time they have wasted consulting the Government website, “Get Ready for Brexit.” The advice today, by the way, is still:

“If the withdrawal agreement is not signed by the UK and the EU, the UK could still leave with no deal on 31 October 2019. Find out what you, your family, or your business need to do if the UK leaves the EU with no deal.”

Ladbrokes are offering 10 to 1 against a no deal departure on 31 October so I don’t think business will be taking the above advice too seriously.