English Opinion

There is only one possible subject I can blog on today because I just cannot get what I watched this afternoon out of my head. I must have looked like a right idiot sat on my couch with my mouth hanging open for above an hour. I have to say though, I didn’t look as much of an idiot as Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Chancellor Alastair Darling will in a couple of years time… or maybe even sooner.

The pre-budget announcement that was made today confirmed what I have been thinking for quite a while now - if Labour are voted in office again next election then the country will be ruined financially and we will have no right to moan about it because we will effectively be letting it happen. Not only have Labour gambled with OUR taxpayer money for years and failed to save for a rainy day, but they are going to continue to do so despite the looming recession. Furthmore, they are actually going to DOUBLE our national debt to £1 trillion in the next few years. I don’t even know how many 0’s are on the end of that number. I can’t comprehend how much that actually is.

Starting with the immediate measures - how many of you are likely to go out and spend on items that you would not have bought yesterday just because VAT has been reduced by 2.5%? Certainly not me. I am currently sat in a freezing cold house with 3 layers on and my dogs all have blankets covering them. Why? Because we are on a pre-payment meter for our gas heating and I can’t afford to put any money into it until next week. We have £10 left on it until then and have to ration it as a result, despite the fact that it is freezing, literally, outside. I will not be buying a car or any expensive electrical goods at all. Besides, the high street stores have discounts of up to 30% at the minute anyway, and those smaller stores will have to spend thousands implementing changes, which completely defeats the object.

Similarly, who is looking forward to the huge taxes we are going to have to pay in the coming years just to repay the borrowing back?

Daling and Brown are gambling with our money because they have no idea what is going on with the average person at the moment. They have never faced a moment’s hardship and would not know what it is like to eat toast for breakfast and lunch and pasta for dinner. They will be sitting in their comfy drawing rooms whilst the rest of us freeze over Christmas. Their elderly relatives will not die because they are cold and hungry. They will not have to pay back the money that they are so recklessly borrowing.

The UK is now in huge debt and, whilst I do like some of their initiatives (the Savings Gateway for example), those that purport to help people are simply masking the country’s problems. Nowhere in the budget did I hear how they are going to create jobs, which is what would elevate spending. Nowhere did I hear them pledge to cut immigration, thus leaving more jobs for those who are desperate to work. In some circumstances immigration is a good thing, especially where skilled jobs that currently have shortages are concerned, but when people will do anything to earn a wage and keep a roof over their heads their is no longer anything resembling cheap labour. We become the cheap labour.

In years to come we will be struggling just as much as we are now. The UK has never been in as much debt as it is now and it is our money they are playing with. It seems as if the UK has become one big casino and no matter what we will end up the losers.

We already have shares in the banks but we do not get to have a say in how they are run. The banks will not help us out but continue to dole out elevated charges, thus making household finances worse. Now we have a share in our country financially but we will still have no say as to how it is run on  daily basis. I really do hope that people see through this and view it for what it is. If we do not do something about it when the election comes around then we deserve everything we get.

If you do not believe thatit is a political stunt to win the country over, check out the dates. The measures Darling announced have all been carefully planned to “help” before the next election and then tax us after they or the Conservatives have been voted in. This just goes to show that they do not care about us but they do care about their own political interests. The MPs that serve us are not paid to save their own hides but are supposed to protect ours.

I just hope I’m wrong about how this is going to play out. If I’m not then brace yourself and get ready to batten down the hatches for a few more years.

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