On Tuesday Grant Robertson outlined a financial package which I had thought would be designed to help the country, particularly businesses, through the Covid-19 crisis. As I pointed out in an earlier post today it was more like a stay at home package with an undue emphasis on welfare. Many businesses would have seen no benefit from what was announced.
Compare that to the package put together by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK. On Tuesday night Rishi Sunak unveiled a £330 billion bailout for BUSINESSES. I am not intending that there be a comparison in the amounts on offer between our package and theirs although it is worth noting that ours is 4% of GDP while theirs is 15%. What I am comparing is where the money is targeted.
The Chancellor set out an “unprecedented package” of emergency loans for struggling firms. He also scrapped business rates for a year and promised cash grants for shops, pubs and other high street operators hit by the slump in customers along with three month mortgage holidays for homeowners in need. Planning regulations are to be ripped up to allow restaurants and pubs to sell takeaway food. That’s smart thinking. The Chancellor has vowed to do whatever it takes to protect the economy. He said this is not a time for IDEOLOGY and ORTHODOXY. This is a time to be bold. A time for courage.
I invite you to compare that with what we were handed. A mealy-mouthed half baked, half-hearted attempt to address the crisis. All they achieved was what we already knew. They are not business-friendly and in fact, don’t have the faintest idea of how it works and will take every opportunity to dole out to their voter base. And they do it in the most blatant way. Shame on them.
Above all the comparison between the packages highlights just what an incompetent bunch of lightweights we have running this country. They have shown themselves to be clueless on a day to day basis, but in a crisis, they are proving to be, at best, two sandwiches short of a picnic.
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