McKinstry begins his article by saying a fundamental contradiction lies at the heart of the British state. On one hand, government spending has never been so high, nor the public sector workforce so large. As a result of this remorseless expansion, overall taxation is at its highest level since the Second World War. Too many public services appear to be mired in crisis, reflected in bitter complaints about underfunding and staff shortages.
He goes on to say part of the explanation for this paradox can be found in the mismanaged nature of the state machine, where waste is endemic and inertia chronic. A recent report stated that a quarter of the navy frigates haven’t spent a single day at sea over the last year. This coincides with a Ministry of Defence budget that saw the largest sustained increase in the last thirty years, going from £45.9 billion to £51.7 billion. Staff numbers at the MoD have increased from 57,550 to 60,640.
It’s the same story at tax collector H.M. Revenue and Customs where staff numbers have increased since 2016 from 66,900 to 71,000. McKinstry says for the government the only way out of this malaise is boosting growth and in turn that means tax cuts so that wage earners have more to spend (exactly what National and Luxon are saying). He points out tax cuts can’t be funded by borrowing; therefore they have to be funded by lower public expenditure, either by raising productivity or slashing costs.
If only Grant Robertson could grasp this basic fact. In the UK, according to McKinstry, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has understood this reality, telling a recent conference in London that the sector must be “much, much more efficient” and “deliver more for less”. Having pointed out that public service productivity has actually fallen by 5.7 per cent since the pandemic, Hunt warned that without action, state debt would double. One example is the fact that 443,000 police hours are wasted every year in form filling.
He says equally damaging is the public sector’s fixation with diversity and identity politics, which fuels an inward-looking, grievance-led culture keener on social engineering than the delivery of services to the public. Perhaps an even more serious problem is the public sector’s bloated size, which both undermines accountability and costs taxpayers a fortune.
One in three British workers is employed by the state. That is a total of 10.6 million, almost double the usual official estimate of 5.7 million. In Whitehall alone, the civil service has expanded by 100,000 since 2016. McKinstry writes that instead of letting bureaucracy spiral out of control, the Tories should have embarked on reform years ago. Now, at the eleventh hour, it is their only hope of revival for the economy – and survival for their party.
In my view the NZ Labour Party, going into this election, is in exactly the same boat.
JC is a right-wing crusader. Reached an age that embodies the dictum only the good die young. This article was first published HERE
He goes on to say part of the explanation for this paradox can be found in the mismanaged nature of the state machine, where waste is endemic and inertia chronic. A recent report stated that a quarter of the navy frigates haven’t spent a single day at sea over the last year. This coincides with a Ministry of Defence budget that saw the largest sustained increase in the last thirty years, going from £45.9 billion to £51.7 billion. Staff numbers at the MoD have increased from 57,550 to 60,640.
It’s the same story at tax collector H.M. Revenue and Customs where staff numbers have increased since 2016 from 66,900 to 71,000. McKinstry says for the government the only way out of this malaise is boosting growth and in turn that means tax cuts so that wage earners have more to spend (exactly what National and Luxon are saying). He points out tax cuts can’t be funded by borrowing; therefore they have to be funded by lower public expenditure, either by raising productivity or slashing costs.
If only Grant Robertson could grasp this basic fact. In the UK, according to McKinstry, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has understood this reality, telling a recent conference in London that the sector must be “much, much more efficient” and “deliver more for less”. Having pointed out that public service productivity has actually fallen by 5.7 per cent since the pandemic, Hunt warned that without action, state debt would double. One example is the fact that 443,000 police hours are wasted every year in form filling.
He says equally damaging is the public sector’s fixation with diversity and identity politics, which fuels an inward-looking, grievance-led culture keener on social engineering than the delivery of services to the public. Perhaps an even more serious problem is the public sector’s bloated size, which both undermines accountability and costs taxpayers a fortune.
One in three British workers is employed by the state. That is a total of 10.6 million, almost double the usual official estimate of 5.7 million. In Whitehall alone, the civil service has expanded by 100,000 since 2016. McKinstry writes that instead of letting bureaucracy spiral out of control, the Tories should have embarked on reform years ago. Now, at the eleventh hour, it is their only hope of revival for the economy – and survival for their party.
In my view the NZ Labour Party, going into this election, is in exactly the same boat.
JC is a right-wing crusader. Reached an age that embodies the dictum only the good die young. This article was first published HERE
2 comments:
I am one of 5000 MBIE employees. MBIE are totally obsessed with identity politics. They recruit and promote people just like themselves, with added Maori advisors at every level. It will be a huge job to reverse something so deeply entrenched.
There must be myriads, and not just in the Min of Ed, whose work is devoted to infiltrating pro maori policies and material. It will require a politician more hardend and brave than Luxon to get rid of them. He will need a security staff bigger than Key had. Most are too impractical to be bus drivers, and sufficently logical to reason that dole is a better deal. Presumably with so amuch charitable fund available and money spent on marae they will all become full time activists.
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