IT IS an understatement to complain that Gordon Brown has reintroduced the ‘boom and bust’ he claims to have abolished. After all to, misuse the words of a famous advertisement – this is no ordinary ‘bust’; this is a ‘Gordon Brown bust’ – and it is developing at a speed and ferocity not seen since the days of Ramsay MacDonald’s Labour Government in 1929.
Gordon’s present intention seems to be to break his own ‘golden rule’ about not borrowing too much and instead to borrow from future taxpayers to spend now.
The problem is that although he has already vastly increased Government expenditure since taking office, we have little to show for it, except for higher taxes.
So, on what can he spend money on that would not be wasted? One example would be to equip properly our forces in Afghanistan while another would be to follow the example of China and increase expenditure on much needed infrastructure.
One example of such infrastructure is the Lower Thames Flood Relief Project which would save much of Berkshire and Surrey from flooding. This would also allow much needed three- and four-bedroom houses, both social and private, to be built on brown and other land at present sterilised by the Environment Agency’s concern about flood risk.
Cllr John Lenton
RBWM Conservative Councillor for Horton and Wraysbury