The Cabinet, The Cuts and the Economy

The media feeding frenzy of leaks, speculation and guesses about the size, nature and effect of the cuts has now reached very nearly its climax. It has all been a rather curious process. This may reflect upon the two party nature of the Cabinet, key members of which are gathered at Chequers, putting, we are told, the final touches on the austerity package, as if it were a collection of dresses for a fashion show. In days of old everything would have been shrouded in secrecy. Now Westminster is awash with briefings, leaks and mini announcements, with rumour supplanting reality as the basis of news.

There is a reason for all this. Nobody engaged in it, whether media, government or victims, have ever seen anything like it before, unless there are old enough to remember Sir Stafford Cripps (why do modern politicians no longer have such wacky names?). In the frenzy, there is anxiety. Will we lose our jobs? Will the government deal itself a fatal electoral hand? Will Labour paint itself into a corner of unreality leading to years in the political wilderness? Will the LibDems implode? Above all the question hangs in every living room across the land; how will the cuts affect us?

We have to remember this exercise is not just about cuts. It is about debt interest spiralling out of control. It is about national debt so big it cannot be repaid for generations to come. But it is more than that. It is reshaping the economy on a sounder footing, where prosperity is real, based upon money earned and assets valued at realistic levels. The real economy of the United Kingdom is much smaller than we think and we have to expand it. So much of what is there is not ours. Remember the key figure. List all the countries in the world in order of what they and their businesses and their populations owe in debt and Britain ranks number two. Yes, only America owes more. Yet America owes 98% of its GDP, close to the world average. We owe a staggering 415% of GDP.

When George Osborne stands up in the Commons on Wednesday, there hangs upon his words nothing less than the economic independence of our country. Let us hope he gets it right. The midnight oil must burn at Chequers.