Asserts the Conservative Party parliamentarian: "In setting up the Free Enterprise Group, we were mindful of a number of facts. In 1997, British public spending constituted 37 per cent of gross domestic product. Today that figure is 49 per cent, an increase of almost a third. Whereas the budget was balanced at £315bn in 1997, last year spending reached £710bn. Even with inflation, this is a doubling of expenditure. And, of course, our tax receipts were only about £590bn. We still have a large deficit. These dry statistics conceal a deeper truth about the nature of the British economy and society. By contrast - the most innovative developing economies like Singapore and Hong Kong are driven by private enterprise. Even in China, which is often held as a model of state-controlled economic development, public spending is only responsible for 20 per cent of GDP. In modern Britain, this figure is just under 50 per cent. This is the background to our report Policy bites: seven shots in the arm of Britain."
More from MP Kwarteng: "More specifically our proposals deal with three areas of policy. To support jobs and growth, we suggest redirecting the Treasury, reducing regulation on small firms and giving young workers a national insurance holiday. To boost the country's infrastructure, we have suggested the bold idea of building two additional runways at Heathrow. The authors also propose a new Ministry of Infrastructure to offer concessions to the private sector. Finally, the paper puts forward the creation of care ISAs [individual savings accounts], encouraging greater saving for long term care needs and limiting paperwork for consumer financial products to just one page. These ideas are just a start. Many details will have to be worked out. Yet the policy document, we hope, initiates a much needed debate about Britain, her society and the economy. This debate will result in a better strategic sense of the direction in which Britain needs to travel."
MP Kwasi Kwarteng: "Britain Will Only Prosper When Public Spending Falls In Line With Tax Revenues"
