Letters to the Editor – 21/02 – Wasted Parliament, Best of Twitter
Wasted Parliament
[Re: Has the government now missed its chance to repair Britain’s public finances? Wednesday]
Dominic Raab is wrong to say that it is “churlish to underestimate the challenge of turning around the economic mess inherited in 2010”. It would have helped if this government had actually done something to cut back the state, rather than borrowing around £100bn a year. Every day you read of waste – at one extreme, the £31m spent on bird sanctuaries, or taxpayer money being given to the Police Federation trade union. At the other extreme, there is the £13bn overseas aid budget. Citizens should be free to choose who they give their money to, not have the state take it and give it to other countries. No wonder so many genuine conservatives will be voting Ukip, or just giving up.
Tim Janman, former Conservative MP
[Re: What Italy and France should really learn about German economic resilience, yesterday]
Italy in particular should pay close attention to the decentralised wage bargaining of Germany. In a country so economically varied (between north and south), centralised wage setting leads to huge inefficiencies, exacerbating lagging productivity.
Janine Powden
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