Good news on the economy

It's been a while coming, but at last there was good news this week on the economy.

Monday saw the figures published for tax revenues collected by the government during January, and while the tax take from ordinary working people was down, the very good news is that the tax take from business was sharply up, meaning that January saw the first fiscal surplus for over two years.

The reason that this is such good news is what lies behind the headline figures. Corporation tax is paid on the profit that companies make, the fact that the amount of tax paid by our companies has risen sharply indicates that company profits are again rising after several years where profits have fallen rapidly or have disappeared altogether. January saw a balance where the tax take was £2.5 billion higher that expenditure, and that £2.5 billion is the first step towards a situation where the country once again lives within its means.

Companies that are making profits and expanding will employ more people and pay better salaries to their staff, these new jobs in the private sector will take up the rising band of unemployed people leaving jobs in the public sector, this re-balancing of our economy is not only desirable but is essential for our long term survival.

The previous government had embarked on a policy that depended on the financial sector earning squillions of pounds every year, from dodgy dealing in the money markets, to pay for a bloated public sector and welfare state. Their spending plans were completely unaffordable when the inevitable financial crisis hit, and the steps taken by the coalition are designed to remedy this, and the initial report has to be that Boy George seems to have got his sums correct.

There are deficit deniers in the Labour party, including our own Chris Inchley, who seems to have embarked on a policy of criticising the cuts in public spending, without having any sort of plan of his own. This week even the US treasury announced that it supports George Osborne's plan to reduce the nations' debt. Inchley is in direct opposition to his own former chancellors plans for public spending reductions. I hope he has filled out the permissions form from Ed Balls before he goes into print about financial matters, I'm sure he wouldn't want the heavies from head office knocking on his door for being publicly outspoken without getting it cleared first, that would never do, would it.?

It really sticks in the throat to listen to these apologists for the old discredited Labour government who were complicit at the very least in causing the recession, and who were spending more than they were taking in tax even at the height of the boom. They should all hang their heads in shame rather than spout in public!