Hammond’s budget black hole: £16bn this year; £84bn over the next five
![As negotiations to leave the EU proceed, the chancellor’s task of trying to boost investment spending will not be easy [Image: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty].](https://voxpoliticalonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/161026-sheltering-under-UK-umbrella.png)
“As negotiations to leave the EU proceed, the chancellor’s task of trying to boost investment spending will not be easy,” the caption reads. Why The Guardian chose an image of someone under a Union Flag umbrella to illustrate this… escapes me. [Image: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty].
Yesterday’s prediction of a £16 billion extra borrowing requirement by the end of the financial year is still valid; the £84 billion figure is what it will look like by 2021, according to the latest predictions.
And yes, we know that predictions are rarely accurate, but have you ever seen one that was wrong in our favour?
It supports the theory that the UK is falling into ‘zombie economy’ mode – building up debts that the poor will be forced to service while the rich live it up.
I mean, where exactly is all this money being spent?
And for those of you wondering what all this means to people on the streets, it means more Daniel Blakes; more people being forced into poverty, destitution, despair and towards death.
And you know what?
There is no good reason for it. A little re-balancing of contributions and our economy would pay for everything we all need, many times over.
The worsening economic outlook could leave Philip Hammond facing a black hole of more than £80bn when he lays out the government’s spending plans next month.
The Resolution Foundation thinktank warned the chancellor that lower tax receipts and higher spending following the Brexit vote would leave the Treasury with a shortfall in every year until 2020-21.
It said a widening gap would open up between income and expenditure to leave a £23bn deficit at the end of the parliament, forcing the government to find savings or allow extra borrowing amounting to a cumulative £84bn to balance the books over the next five years.
Source: Philip Hammond could face £84bn black hole following Brexit vote | Politics | The Guardian
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They can always find the funds for weapons and wars, but of course their main priority will always be to give the wealthy lots of tax cuts.
I’ve never understood why journalists use the term “black hole.” My understanding of black holes is that they cannot be filled; they merely consume and occasionally eject stuff.
“It supports the theory that the UK is falling into ‘zombie economy’ mode – building up debts that the poor will be forced to service while the rich live it up.” Since when was this a theory? Either I have been living in another country, on another planet, in another universe, in another time, or this has been practice for YEARS.
No wonder Carney the BofE Government puppet is reluctant to put up interest rates to add to his paymasters woes. No probs us savers don’t mind chipping in our lost interest income to keep the Gov going broke…..its a covert tax despite them giving tax payers a tax free break on limited interest income…..what feckin income!
I cannot help but wonder how they can manage to correlate this situation with their claimed commitment to “living within our means” when they’ve just also committed to spend £22bn on the new and largely unwanted extra runway at LHR. And, of course, that £22bn is a figure that we all know from past witnessing will over-run several times over the course of the project.