Douglas Carswell's Blog

How's the growth strategy coming along?

A while back, the Treasury set up a tax break scheme designed to create jobs and growth. It involved national insurance exemptions for certain businesses, in certain circumstances in certain parts of the country.

Today, we discover the scheme has apparently cost more to administer than it has actually delivered in tax exemptions.

Perhaps instead of Gordon Brown-style tinkering, we need a growth strategy that gives us less government - lower taxes, less regulation. Get government out the way, don't get it to engineer complex schemes.

Some will suggest we cannot afford to cut tax. I wonder how much longer the stagnating West can afford not to.

Alas, it seems that many top Treasury officials are still formulating policy like its the mid-noughties with Gordo at the helm. Tinker a bit here. A special scheme there.

If the Coalition wants to see economic growth, it needs to quit blaming the Eurozone or Labour, and start to make the bold changes we need to get the economy growing....

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