UK Chancellor John Healey will deliver his first budget on 28 October. He and his boss, Andy Burnham, may be new but the issues they face are not. How to control government spending when his backbenchers are so reluctant to do so? How to avoid raising taxes when they have rashly maintained their predecessors’ commitment to not do so for the big three of income tax, national insurance (well employees’ national insurance) and VAT thus condemning themselves to more agonising and unpopularity whilst not necessarily raising much? And how to avoid borrowing even more when interest rates have since gone up?
Two years ago, Logie Group advised Rachel Reeves on how to square this circle. However, she ignored that advice and look what happened to her!
Today, the facts are the same so Logie Group’s advice is the same – bring back Public Private Partnerships but with a fair balance of risk and reward and realistic jeopardy. All of what we said then holds true today. Mr. Healey has just enough time to take a look.
