Starmer and Sturgeon have fuelled economic crisis

Sir, – It is a fundamental principle of law that those who incite a crime are as guilty of the crime as the actual perpetrator.

If we apply this idea by analogy to the grievous policy errors which have led to the country’s present predicament, we would conclude that the opposition parties and the broadcast media are as much to blame as the UK Government.

So when Sir Keir Starmer,

Nicola Sturgeon and endless BBC pundits respond to the chancellor’s Autumn Statement with cries of Tory austerity, we should remember that they not only supported the policies which made this inevitable, but wanted even more of them.

The SNP in Scotland and Labour in Wales implemented the lockdowns longer and more thoroughly than the Tories.

At no point did the opposition want less in the way of Covid measures or expenditure.

As a result, we now have more than £400 billion of extra national debt and a damaged economy.

With regard to net-zero and climate change policy, which is largely responsible for our current energy crisis, the opposition parties have always demanded more and a faster transition. With regard to quantitative easing, which has seen the national debt mushroom to over £2.5 trillion, at no point have the opposition parties demanded reductions in QE or in spending.

We should not allow the other parties or the BBC to pretend that our present predicament is purely the fault of the Tories, when at each stage they have been cheerleaders for the reckless policies which have led to it.