3/24/2005
Tory Tax plans: a start
Last night Conservative Way Forward, the neo-Thatcherite grouping in the Tory Party, held a panel discussion on Tory Tax policy. I attended the event with arch-Tory Peter Cuthbertson. He was far more impressed with what Howard Flight MP said than I was, to be honest. Howard, though passionate and bright, waffled along about Tory proposals to cut tax if they were to win the next election. His attacks on whingers in the party did not exactly go down well, either. Despite Prof. Minford and Andrew Alexander’s prodding of Howard, he refused to agree to more radical tax plans or even consider them. This was despite the fact that Minford pointed out that both Reagan and W proposed major tax cuts before they proposed spending cuts.
What strikes me about current Conservative policy is that it apes the Tories in the 70s. “We agree with the concensus on what is being done but we can do it all better and more efficiently.” The spending decreases they are talking about are mere drops in the bucket when you look at the overall amount spent by the current government. What was very encouraging to see was the enthusiasm from Prof. Minford and Mr Alexander, as well as much of the audience, for flat taxes. As one would expect, the recent adoption of a flat tax by Poland was mentioned. There were some rumblings, both from the panel and the audience, about the massive waste of money that is the EU. Overall it was fairly interesting evening, not as good as the recent IEA taxation event, but rather good. Let’s hope that Flight took home something from the evening and will encourage his party to truly get to grips with the massive tax burden in the UK.
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Howard Flight is apparently the 2nd richest MP in the Commons. He’s well liked locally, he was way ahead in votes and the opposition was roughly split. He’s probably one of the few MPs who could successfully stand as an Independent Tory. Once back in he would be quietly readmitted by Michael Howard or his successor.
Comment by Chris Phillips — 3/26/2005 @ 5:04 pm
Howard Flight debacle: the blogger’s alt-view
Much amused to come across this alternative report of the Conservative Way Forward event at which Howard Flight admitted the Tory pledge to spend £35bn less than Labour in a couple of years, should read ‘at least £35bn less’, via Mathew T…
Trackback by Stephen Newton\’s diary of sorts… — 3/30/2005 @ 2:02 pm
There isn’t much hope of any improvement in efficiency in Whitehall, or any actual saving of money until the Civil Service is culled dramatically. 5.6 million and rising is far too many worthless jobsworths for any country and especially when they now tally almost 20% of the total workforce! Just who actually runs the country - no prizes for guessing the unelected, unaccountable Fourth Estate - the Civil Service which is now completely dominated by left wing Socialists of the first order since the only advertising for all CS vacancies are placed only in the ultra-left wing Guardian!
Comment by The Gray Monk — 3/30/2005 @ 4:16 pm
BritBlog Roundup # 7
Time for our weekly roundup of blogging from these misty Isles somewhere in the North Atlantic. The best posts from those citizens of or resident in the four nations are eligible and you can nominate your entries for next week
Trackback by Tim Worstall — 4/3/2005 @ 2:37 pm
#79 Best of Me Symphony
The Scientific Method pre-supposes the existence of an external reality separate from the consciousness of the observer.
Trackback by The Owner\’s Manual — 5/30/2005 @ 4:00 am