EVERY WEDNESDAY

WITH election manifestos being revealed, I am issuing my own through this column on behalf of the Responsible Party. I hope that there will be more than one supporter after you have read it.

This manifesto is designed to make you think about the state of Britain. I do not seek your votes – only your acceptance that much needs doing to improve its condition.

No family or company would last in Britain’s current state. We have been spending more than raising in tax for years. This year’s figure is at least £50bn and over and above that we have to service a national debt of at least £1.7 trillion to the tune of about £63bn a year.

There is no money for handouts until we convert debt into an annual surplus that would create room for responsible spending.

That means out goes HS2 – an absurdity if only to cut travelling times – plus unconvincing airport expansion and foreign aid not directed at relieving or preventing famine, disease and conflict.

I am chronically in favour of low taxes. But no responsible party can promise today to slash rates. Nor can any responsible individual fail to pay his way or companies dodge tax on profits earned in this country. The time for civil responsibility has arrived.

Responsible people faced with this situation cut back. This means that for the time being the NHS, welfare, education and other services will have to make do. The time has come to find out which managers with inflated salaries are useless.

In any case, every responsible person knows that throwing money at the NHS, welfare and education is not the answer. With an ageing population, an exponential growth in medical treatments and pressure from immigration, the NHS would, if we allowed it, soon swallow all we could