There are cuts and cuts

While Rachel Reeves is battling with the total mess left to her by the last Tory government, the energy secretary has quietly increased the money available for green energy, after the last subsidy contract auction was a complete failure. A Tory failure that is, which went hand in hand with a ban on onshore wind farms to placate Nimbys in the shires.

It is as if vote blue get green was a cynical lie which was abandoned at the very first opportunity by a bunch of climate change denying nutters.

But the wider issue is that green energy and now the new planning system to force more house building are only two of the pillars for growth, when many more are needed.

But like every other Chancellor when faced with a current shortfall Ms Reeves is going to be sorely tempted to cut infrastructure spending. She has already buried a couple of by-passes and Boris Johnson’s Thomas the tank engine fantasy about re-opening rail lines.

But what the country needs, perhaps above all else, is a sustained of above trend infrastructure spending. I strongly suspect that that is never going to happen, the short-termism of the British polity will raise its head again and no one will demand more spending on all the things that mean we consistently fall behind our rivals.

Money is short, but capital is not necessarily as short, it needs unleashing and spending.

Jonty’s Jottings

Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.

By Jonty Bloom Media