Licencetoprint

Re: your editorial “Universal Credit cut hits the poorest” (6 October)> The change will affect 4.4 million families throughout England, Scotland and Wales, 40 per cent of whom are already in jobs, making it more difficult to make ends meet against an increasing cost-of-living spiral, exacerbated by a National Insurance increase affecting employees and employers and National Debt close to 100 per cent of GDP.

To win votes, leading politicians employ simple rhetoric/ soundbites. One former PM, Margaret Thatcher, declared “the state has no source of money other than the money people earn themselves”. Another, Theresa May, said “there is no magic money tree”. These are half-truths at best and downright misleading at worst.

Both statements ignore the fact that the Treasury creates currency as and when required, e.g. Quantitative Easing, now well over £750 billion since the financial crash. The latest excuse from PM Boris Johnson and the Chancellor is “its a global problem”, when referring to HGV driver and other shortages, and the Pandora papers’ revelations. The UK Government, unlike a household, doesn’t earn money, it prints it. A key but unarguable fact is that our currency, the pound sterling, is created by the Treasury and disbursed by the Bank of England, the central bank of the UK, and no one else – legally.

The British public is now conditioned to think government must tax more to spend more, i.e. tax and/or borrow money from us before it can spend. In reality, the UK government never collects enough tax revenue to meet expenditure, as a rule, leading to annual deficits. Running a deficit isn’t only normal, but the norm for most countries like ours. The £6bn UC uplift is a drop in the proverbial.

DW LOWDEN Mannofield, Aberdeen