After nearly a decade of austerity and government spending cuts we are still borrowing about £50 billion a year with even more cuts to come. Brexit could not have happened at a worse time - for Brexiteers that is. And things are set to get even worse.
In the last few weeks we have had the government announcing the raising of the cap for council tax rises allowing increases of 6% or more without triggering a local referendum. Previously it was just 2%.
This week the rail regulator announced increases of 3.4% on average in rail fares. Sky News gave it's readers a comparison of rail fares in the rest of Europe. Needless to say it was not a happy comparison for British commuters who pay the highest fares for utter!y appalling services. In Italy, passengers making the journey between Velletri and Rome pay £442 for the year but commuters travelling the same distance from Wokingham into London Waterloo face a £3,248 bill. Both Germany and France subsidise rail fares and run efficient services using modern rolling stock. On the other hand the average age of British trains is 21 years.
Now we learn from The Telegraph no less, that the NHS is facing a winter crisis which is the worst in three decades with all but the most urgent operations being cancelled until February. We do not read of similar crises in France or Germany.
I point these things out for several reasons. Firstly, they are symptomatic of a society which is unable to make ends meet, to say the least. Secondly, they are a sign of things to come. The £50 billion public borrowing figure (the difference between what the government raises in tax and what it spends) cannot continue indefinitely and the government has already been urged by the IMF to consider tax rises as well as spending cuts so further tax rises are to be expected.
Thirdly, it exposes the myth that somehow it is membership of the EU that is the root of all of our problems. In truth we are paying the price for the incompetence of successive governments and the failure to increase the national wealth through trade, particularly export trade where we have one of the largest current account deficits at 5.9%, the highest on record.
Finally, Brexit is only going to make matters worse. There will be an economic shock. Trade and tax revenues will suffer, of that there is no doubt. We already see the economy slowing down and this is not going to get better for several years at least. Brexiteers are going to have a hard job explaining how Brexit is supposed to increase our prosperity while we slip further and further behind the EU. We should make sure everyone knows who and what is to blame.
