Although three days this week have been taken up with the consideration in Committee of the European Union Bill the announcement that the economy shrank ny half of one per cent in the last quarter of 2010 was probably the major news of the week. The thing that surprised me was the number of commentators and ( perhaps less surprisingly!) opposition politicians who suggested that this ought to result in the Chancellor changing has economic policy. I am sure he will not change and he absolutely right not to. There is no doubt that the problem with our economy is that we are spending more than we earn every month every year. Without balancing the budget the outcome is certain we will eventually be unable to borrow any more and the result will be that others will be telling us to make savings as the price for funding our spending.
4 thoughts on “Economy”
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David Nuttall 
On Fairfield Maternity services: MP Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Secretary of State for Health, said he will stop the move “within days” if the Tories come into power.
http://bit.ly/1mZiSR
If the government is looking to reduce the deficit then why doesn’t it do a deal with the rail companies so that MPs can use the rail network for free? Do MPs book their trains in advance to save the taxpayer money, do they always travel First Class? I noticed on the expenses section of your website there are lots of weekly claims for rail fares. Administering the expenses of 650 MPs costs the taxpayers £6m a year. If MPs had free railcards I am sure this would save the taxpayer a lot of money, is this being looked at?
Hi Simon,
The last Government put in place a new Independent Authority to deal with all aspect of MP’s expenses. Understandably, because of what happened in the last Parliament the public are not very interested in what MP’s have to say about their expenses but I can assure you that speaking to colleagues we are all concerned that the current system is not as efficient as it it could be. I think block booking for rail fares as you suggest would be a good idea. I can not speak for other MP’s but I always book my tickets a few days in advance and despite what I pay unless I am required to travel during peak hours because of sitting hours I only clain off peak standard class fare. The return to London has recently increased from £66.20 to £70. I do not claim for the costs of travelling from my home to Manchester and back nor do I claim for my travel costs in London.
David
But if a family was in that situation they might well try to earn more to pay the bills. But the government does not even think of that. Indeed their approach amounts to selling the car so the family cannot get to work ! A growing economy is the best way to find future prosperity.