This week, it was confirmed that our national debt has now surpassed the dismal milestone of £3trillion.
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debt → confirm → 3trillion
Such an enormous number is hard to comprehend, so let me put it in context.
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me → comprehend → context
With £3trillion, we could build ten million new homes, 30 HS2 rail networks or 2,000 Shard skyscrapers.
In terms of public services, we could fund the NHS for 12 years – which you might think is remarkably brief – and pay for all English state schools, universities and colleges for two generations.
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you → build → generations
If the entire £3trillion was spent in just one year, it could pay for the salaries of 60 million teachers, 67 million nurses or 33 million doctors.
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it → spend → teachers
As the economist Liam Halligan pointed out yesterday, between April and September this year, we spent £61billion on servicing our national debt.
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we → point → debt
That figure – frittered away in just six months – is equivalent to our annual defence budget, nearly all the education budget or the annual GDP of Slovenia.
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figure → fritter → Slovenia
We must get to a point where we are able to spend sensibly on defence, schooling and healthcare without further indebting ourselves.
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we → get → ourselves
But this is not a priority for the Government, apparently, which seems intent on making the cost of the British state even more expensive.
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cost → seem → state
In his lachrymose 'keynote address' to the Labour Party's annual conference last month, the Prime Minister announced a slew of policies that will cost a fortune.
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that → announce → fortune
If the entire £3trillion was spent in just one year, it could pay for the salaries of 60 million teachers, 67 million nurses or 33 million doctors
Joseph Dinnage, senior press officer at the Prosperity Institute, puts the mind-boggling sum of £3trillion into context
Take his flagship 'National Care Service'.
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Dinnage → spend → Service
This is going to be modelled almost exactly on the ruinously expensive and inefficient National Health Service, which is projected to cost almost £300billion this financial year.
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which → go → 300billion
The Chancellor, John Healey, is expected to announce tax rises on banks and online retailers in next week's Budget.
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Chancellor → expect → Budget
But targeting our few remaining profitable industries with pernicious tax hikes is kryptonite for economic prosperity.
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targeting → target → prosperity
It is naked short-termism that will harm future growth.
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that → harm → growth
Why is the Government implementing such damaging policies when our economy is on the brink of catastrophe?
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economy → implement → catastrophe
As we saw with Keir Starmer's ill-fated Welfare Bill – which failed to cut benefits spending by only £5billion due to rebellion from socialist backbenchers and ultimately torpedoed his premiership – the Labour Party is ideologically incapable of promoting economic growth.
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Party → see → growth
It exists to spend other people's money.
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It → exist → money
But the time for playing politics with our economy is over.
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time → play → economy
One more major economic shock could push us into defaulting on our debt.
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shock → push → debt
Imagine, God forbid, another pandemic was to strike us next month.
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pandemic → imagine → us
The virus hits, but the state has no money to pay workers to sit at home, let alone subsidise their lunches.
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state → hit → lunches
Businesses go under left, right and centre, causing an unemployment crisis.
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Businesses → go → crisis
Just as we did under another Labour Chancellor named Healey in 1976, we would have to go cap in hand to the International Monetary Fund for a loan.
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we → name → loan
Which is why Labour must face down its most toxic elements and start saving money.
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Labour → face → money
And, let's be clear, this is easy.
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this → let → ?
All that's needed is political will.
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that → need → ?
A good place to start is the NHS.
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place → start → ?
Right now, we have a healthcare system that is one of the worst performing among developed nations.
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that → have → nations
Life expectancy has flatlined and healthy life expectancy has fallen by two years in the past decade, yet NHS spending keeps rising.
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spending → flatline → decade
With the right reforms we can keep healthcare 'free at the point of use', as socialists demand, and save money in the long run by freeing up the private healthcare sector and keeping Britons healthy.
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socialists → keep → Britons
The Chancellor, John Healey, is expected to announce tax rises on banks and online retailers in next week's Budget
Specifically, we at the Prosperity Institute recommend the reintroduction of tax relief on private medical insurance – lowering the cost of private healthcare for individuals and employers.
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we → expect → individuals
This would ease the burden on the NHS while also boosting growth in the wider healthcare industry.
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This → ease → industry
Polling commissioned by the Prosperity Institute also found that the public, who have seen for themselves the chaos and filth of state-run hospitals, is on board.
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who → commission → board
Almost 60 per cent of participants preferred systematic healthcare reform to continuing to throw billions at a broken system.
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cent → prefer → system
The soaring cost of the welfare state must also be addressed.
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cost → soar → state
In the current financial year, Britain is projected to spend almost £335billion on social security and welfare benefits – roughly 10.6 per cent of GDP.
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Britain → project → GDP
As Mail readers will know, over four million adults in England and Wales claim personal independence payments (PIP), £37.3 billion is spent annually on social housing, and according to the Office for National Statistics over half the population of the UK (53.3 per cent) are net recipients of the state, rather than net contributors.
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population → know → state
Fixing this requires root-and-branch reform.
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Fixing → fix → reform
The Timms Review, launched last year to assess the system, found that PIP is unfit for purpose and requires reform.
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PIP → launch → reform
As my colleague, economist Emmanuel Igwe, has argued, PIP does not need reform, it needs to be scrapped and replaced with a properly means-tested, robustly assessed alternative.
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it → argue → alternative
…and 17 more, not listed.
The Aporia
