Democracy

This Budget debacle signifies much more than Rachel Reeves’ ineptness

philmullan Debt, Democracy, Economic policy, Politics, state, Welfarism

After this shambolic Budget, it is now beyond doubt: no one should believe a word uttered by the chancellor of the exchequer. Her Budget statement this week amounted to a litany of broken pledges – including some made only weeks ago.

In her spirited response to Reeves’s statement, opposition leader Kemi Badenoch urged the chancellor to stop blaming others and instead blame herself. While Reeves certainly has much to answer for, it is ultimately misleading to hold her alone responsible for this politically and economically alarming state of affairs.

The deeper issue is that the British political system itself now produces figures like Reeves: technocratic managers who lack both authority and genuine democratic accountability. Reeves, Keir Starmer, and their cabinet colleagues merely personify the impotence of this type of managerialist politician.

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The economic case for mass migration has never looked so weak

philmullan Cultural renaissance, Democracy, Economics, Politics, Productivity

Earlier this month, Professor David Miles from Imperial College Business School intervened in the UK’s most contentious issue – immigration. In an essay published by the Common Good Foundation, Miles argued that ‘there are serious problems with the idea that [immigration-driven] faster population growth can consistently alleviate fiscal problems’. He urged the government to prioritise getting British people into work, rather than relying on migrants to solve the nation’s economic problems. 

For a long time, the conventional economic wisdom was the opposite – that immigration benefitted the economy. This argument would be routinely trotted out to justify denouncing anyone who questioned immigration levels as, at least, idiotic, probably ‘far right’ and certainly not worth debating.

Miles’s essay shows that the establishment is changing its views on immigration, thanks in large part to popular pressure. For far too long, successive governments have reduced what should be publicly debated political decisions – on the public finances, on infrastructure projects, on immigration and so much more – to technical economic questions. An honest public debate on immigration that breaks away from simplistic economic pros and cons is certainly long overdue. 

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Scrap the fiscal rules, abolish the OBR

philmullan Democracy, Economic growth, Economic policy, Politics, State intervention , ,

The parlous state of the British economy and its public finances shows us what happens when you defer to the ‘experts’. Rachel Reeves is a middle manager posing as chancellor. She exemplifies the managerial politician. She doesn’t make political decisions about what the country and its people need, so much as follow rules and procedures authored by experts – by those who supposedly know best.

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Does the OBR run this country?

philmullan Democracy, Economic policy, Politics, State intervention , ,

The UK desperately needed something bold and innovative from this week’s spring budget. The nation’s infrastructure is literally crumbling, the energy grid is overloaded and local authorities are going bankrupt. The economy and public services are simply not working.

Of course, it would have been naive in the extreme to expect any answers to these problems from the current moribund Tory government – even as a General Election looms. And, given the UK’s stagnant economy, any chancellor would have struggled to conjure up the resources to fix all of this now in a single budget. Still, chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s budget was a paltry affair, even by his past standards.

Some have blamed the paucity of the chancellor’s budget statement on the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the ‘independent’ watchdog that determines whether the chancellor is sticking to his so-called fiscal rules.

But we should be wary of demonising the messenger. And any suggestion of ‘external’ constraints on the government should be rebuffed, as it lets our elected leaders shirk responsibility for their own decisions.

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The tyranny of government-by-spreadsheet

philmullan Democracy, Economic policy, state

The budget statement used to be a government’s big opportunity to unveil its political programme and allot society’s resources accordingly. It was an annual moment of huge political significance. Yet, from the late 1980s onwards, it has become an increasingly managerial exercise, drained of any broader political vision. Today’s budgets represent a triumph of technocracy over democratic politics. In the run-up to this spring’s budget on 6 March both Jeremy Hunt and Rachel Reeves are continuing this practice of wanting to insulate economic policy from democracy. Surely we could re-politicise and re-democratise the pre-budget discussion.

Read the full article here.