Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

There is a feeling of government by disconnection creeping over the country. It is not the detail or the individual policies. It is down to two issues. Europe and the economy. The two Es.

Europe is going through transformation pangs, self inflicted economic issues and problems of integration. Not one of these is within the remit of the UK to influence, since all stem from the idea of a currency without a government, which can be traced back to a Mitterrand day-dream to curb German domination. It did not work. Germany dominates Europe, but the currency, or better said, the consequence of the currency, is a big mess. The UK is not in the currency, so it is a spectator. Nobody knows how the euro members are going to finally resolve their problems or who will stay in the euro. This may be all, some, or none.

Until this is known, pontificating about Britain’s relationship with a new Europe of unknown shape is pointless. It is like choosing a hat without a head on which to put it and without knowing for what occasion it will be worn. At best it whimsical but to most it is silly. Cameron’s speech, in the current financial context and driven solely by Tory splits, was as pointless as a silly hat. The context, of course, was the announcement not long after, that the UK had achieved a contraction in the last quarter of 2012, over the whole year there had been nil growth, and government borrowing as well as spending was rising and above target.

Nobody in Whitehall can possibly pretend that this is where the government wanted to be, nor that it is other than something approaching a disaster. The plan is not working. There is no growth and there is no plan for growth, just a few measures here and there which my help. The real economy has suffered while QE has fed property prices in the south east and share prices on the stock market. This has been good for the rich and bad for everybody else.

Unless Cameron and Osborne sort this out, what they, their rebel beck bench MPs, or their (elderly) activists think or plan or wish for, will be neither here nor there. 2015 will be another electoral defeat for the Tories.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 29th, 2013 at 2:31 pm and is filed under Malcolm Blair Robinson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.