Jeremy Hunt’s Budget 2022 serves only the Tories election needs and does very little to address the needs of the Country. Today’s Autumn Statement was a cynical budget which focused more on the Tories Election needs than anything else. The major pain has been withheld to a time following the next General Election. The aim of this was to prevent the Tories from becoming even more unpopular than they already are and to curb additional resentment towards them from the electorate in the run up to the next General Election. This is an attempt to stop leakage of voters based upon the Tories recent form and the fiasco of Trussonomics: still a sore wound in the memory of voters. Sure things are getting rough for the majority of ordinary people but there have been a number of sweeteners for: pensioners, those on the minimum wage and those on benefits. On the other hand inflation, prices and costs of fuel and energy are still rising. Also Council Tax is going to be another punch to the guts and an additional burden that hits everyone. This Government is still borrowing money to buy more time for the Tories to claw back some lost ground in the run up to the next election. So this is a cynical budget.
Hunt’s Budget is more about buying sweeteners for the next General Election and laying mines for the Labour Party’s plans for economic growth
This budget is about buying time with the electorate but it’s also about attempt to scupper the Labour Party’s plans and ambitions. It could encumber any government coming after this Government. So it’s about laying a minefield whilst digging your own trenches and using Government Debt as a hostage for the future, which is basically what Hunt and the Tories are doing in this Autumn Statement. This Government know that Labour has plans and ambitions which would need a relatively healthy economy to be successful. If Labour were to win the next election then the public would have an expectation that things would change quite quickly they wouldn’t want to be lumbered with cuts in spending which by rights should be done now and not deferred. This cynical budget by Jeremy Hunt refuses to address economic fiscal problems head on right now but instead it defers responsibility and is not a responsible way to manage the Economy. It’s a cowardly moved based on electioneering which has started right now with this hopeless and cowardly cynical budget. It defers it’s responsibility so isn’t, as Hunt claims, righting the ship now and steering the right course. It’s a budget with an eye on retaining power that’s all!
Hunt is going to increase borrowing to allow him to do this and by failing to outline his intended public sector cuts to services at this point, because he doesn’t wish to be unpopular in the run up to the next General Election in 2 years time, he is using public money to finance the Tories next election campaign right now. He is refusing to face up to his responsibilities and failing the country in the meantime. His actions by deferring and not facing up to his responsibilities as Chancellor will lead to a prolonged period of misery for the citizens of Britain because this actions are actually prolonging the duration of this period of high INFLATION and the Cost of Living Crisis which should be addressed now and not in 2 years time. This act of blatant electioneering which the taxpayers of this country are paying for both in terms of the increased borrowing he needs to do this and the additional wasted and unnecessary time spent in recession, which if done responsibly could be concluded 2 years earlier. He is also attempting to derail the Labour Party plans and ambitions based on the economic circumstances that they will face in 2 years time in the run up to the next election. He is effect laying a minefield for the next election which is a situation of Hunt’s own making. He is creating this for his own needs and those of the Tory Party and is more concerned about doing this than addressing the current problems that the UK’s Economy faces. When questioned by Robert Peston about deferring all the bad things to come, it was noticeable that Hunt couldn’t stop smirking about it like some naughty child who has been found out. This is a cynical budget. Hunt’s actions are clearly not in the public interest who is acting irresponsibly with government borrowing by attempting to secure power for the Tories in the next General Election.
Jeremy Hunt is using public finances to start the Tories Election Campaign now: this is the only ambition of this Budget
Jeremy Hunt’s refusal to tackle the economic situation now by deferring spending cuts and using increased borrowing now to allow him to do this is basically a way of starting the Tories Election Campaign now and using Government borrowing to allow him to do this. This is a crafty, cynical and dishonest Budget. It is so transparent and obvious and is another example of mismanagement of the economic and shows that Sunak’s Government cannot be trusted.
Deferring Spending Cuts is cowardly and transparent
In his Autumn Statement Jeremy Hunt has deferred Spending Cuts until after the next Election. This is both a cowardly and a transparent move. Cowardly in that he will not reveal the bad news to come until after the General Election ( if the Conservatives were to remain in power which is doubtful) and transparent in that this budget is simply an electioneering move which is not necessarily in the best interests of the Country at the moment and defers addressing the real problems and challenges which face the Country now. This electioneering is starting now and using borrowed money to do this whilst adding this to public finances. Surely this is against all the protocol defining how much political parties are allowed to spend on election campaigning. He is hiding this by trying to obscure his real motivation and ambition for the Autumn Statement. He is financing the Tories next election campaign by borrowing money which will ultimately end up as public/ government debt. He is leaving problems for any incumbent governments that may come after this shower of goons when he could be doing something positive about it right now. This Autumn Statement is also an act of sabotage. His cowardice in not addressing problems right now has been examined by both the IMF and the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) both of which agree that it neither tackles the problem of Inflation and nor does is reduce Government Debt in any significant amount in fact it adds to it. Hunt’s Autumn Statement actually prolongs the amount of time needed to achieve both of these outcomes. This is simply adding to the time to needed to recover from high levels of Inflation and the Cost of Living Crisis. Hunt’s Autumn Statement addresses non of the UK’s current issues. This Autumn Statement is certainly no indication that this Government are acting responsibility to deal with the issues of : Inflation, the Cost of Living Crisis, and the amount of Government Debt. In fact this Autumn Statement sidesteps all of these issues and is simply an act of electioneering to assist the Tories in their next election campaign.
Hunt has produced a cowardly budget that leaves painful solutions for some else to solve in the future which is unlikely to be the Conservative Party. Hunt knows his Party’s chances of re-election in the future are very slim. He is storing up problems for the future but is attempting to give small sweeteners at the moment just to hedge his bets and to offer the Tories even the smallest of hopes of being returned to power. He is hoping that the recent events may become a distant memory before the next election and that we will all be thankful for the small mercies that things might have been worse at this time.
Also by deferring huge cuts in public spending he is basically saying that whoever you get to vote for in the next election will also have to make these huge cuts to public spending so why not just stick with us because changing your allegiance will result in the same outcome. It’s an attempt to level the playing field and decrease the amount of ground currently between the Tories and the Labour Party suggesting that both will have to make tough choices about spending costs and the financial deficit at the next General Election. This is going to be an artificial situation created by Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement 2022 and he is in effect wasting time in recession by adding an additional 2 years to it in order to allow him to achieve a glimmer of hope for the Tories at the next General Election: with the British public paying the bill. One has to question if this is a good and responsible use of Public Money to do something that only the Tory Party stands to gain from? This is the hidden agenda of this Autumn Statement 2022.
2 additional and unnecessary years spent in Recession and dealing with the Cost of Living Crisis: that’s the true cost of Hunt’s Budget 2022
This seems dishonest and the public are going to pay a high price for this deceit, spending an additional 2 years more than they should in recession and dealing with high Inflation and the painful Cost of Living Crisis. Hunt is rigging the next election and making the process of misery last much longer than it should actually be for the UK simply by this blatant act of electioneering. He is doing this as an electioneering ploy and borrowing new money to achieve this and every citizen in the UK will play a high price of 2 unnecessary years spent in recession and paying the high price of the Cost of Living Crisis for his electioneering. Also of consideration is the public will be liable to pay back the money that he is borrowing which allows him to do this. He is prolonging the recession and Cost of Living Crisis for us all both deliberately and irresponsibly. The Tories aren’t managing the Country in the interests of what is good for the Country: they are doing it to make sure that they are the ultimate beneficiaries. He is making things difficult for us all for 2 years longer than is necessary because this Coward doesn’t want to relinquish power in the next election. That was the purpose of this Autumn Statement 2022.