Spending binge will ‘scar a generation’

THE UK’S “big state” must shrink if Britain is going to avoid bankruptcy and save “scarring a generation”, Sir I ai n Duncan Smith has warned.

In a report by the Centre for Social Justice think tank, the former Tory leader has cautioned that “a spending and borrowing binge” to combat Covid would only serve to “cripple the business sector with higher taxes”.

Instead, Sir Iain argues for a “New Britain Deal” to reset the balance of p o wer between the centre and the local regions.

“The pandemic has caused grave physical, emotional and economic suffering across the country, running the grave risk of scarring a generation,” Sir Iain said.

“Yet even in the midst of this crisis, we have an opportunity to reset the balance of power between the centre and the local regions and to recognise that in many instances local people have shown they are best equipped to make the decisions that determine the quality of their lives and those of their neighbours and friends.”

The report, ‘ The Great Recovery: A post-covid deal for Britain’, will be published next week.

Sir Iain added: “We have to get local businesses back on their feet, get local people back to work, and recognise that the ‘ Man in Whitehall’ does not always know best.”

The report warns that a solution to saving the economy post-pandemic is not “an ever-increasing rollercoaster of tax and spend” but a “new relationship between people and government”.