Goodbye to the Conservatives – the party of pessimism and profligacy
SIR – The horror story that is the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement gives no reason for anyone to try harder, innovate, or offer employment. Where is the hope? Where is the optimism?
Everything anyone has aspired to, or worked for, or saved up for – all is to be taxed to extinction. And why? To pay our Covid debts, yes – but also to pay for benefits for those astonishing numbers who have withdrawn from working, and for whose return to work the Government has no clear policy, and to pay for the profligate NHS bureaucracy, which the Government chooses not to hold accountable for these vast sums.
Goodbye to the Conservative Party. LF Buckland
Iwerne Minster, Dorset
SIR – The NHS is killing us. Its voracious appetite for a consistently greater share of government expenditure, not justified by the declining service it provides, has resulted in the largest tax burden since the Second World War. This cannot go on. There has to be a discussion about alternative methods of financing health care.
If we do not tackle this issue as a matter of urgency, then all other government services will suffer death by a thousand cuts.
Richard North
Stanford Dingley, Berkshire
SIR – Anyone who supported lockdowns (a consistent majority) or clapped for the NHS should think twice before criticising this depressing tax raid.
Dr Andrew Mciver London SW3 SIR – If Liz Truss’s attempt to transform Britain failed because “the markets” didn’t like it, and Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement was predominantly designed to keep “the markets” happy, then who is controlling Britain?
Alan Hetherington
Stillington, North Yorkshire
SIR – In virtually every pub where I have lunch, many other customers are a similar age to me (75).
With the reduction in allowances on dividend income and capital gains, many of these people will cut down on their visits, piling further pressure on a hospitality sector already struggling with energy costs, business overheads and staff shortages.
Simon Mcilroy
Croydon, Surrey
SIR – I hear much criticism of the Chancellor’s decision to maintain the triple lock for the “rich pensioners”.
A male pensioner born before April 1951 receives the full basic pension of £141.85 per week. The 1 per cent uplift gives us £14 a week – not exactly riches.
Colin James Butcher
Brecon
SIR – I have done a lot of stupid things in my life, but what I regret most is having voted Conservative in 2019. Andrew Jukes Eye, Suffolk