A New Economic Model: Part 6

A New Economic Model: Eight Benchmarks for Britain.

This is my analysis of George Osborne's economic policy should the Conservatives win the next election.

5 Ensure the whole country shares in rising prosperity

This sounds good: a redistribution of wealth? Not at all. When they say "the whole country" they mean "the private sector". When they mean the private sector, they mean wholesale privatisation. The level of privatisation that the Conservatives plan will give us fewer services which will ultimately mean that we will have to pay for the services that we get at the moment from the public sector. The poor will be covered by basic service provision only and will be badly hit by this. The middle classes, who have sufficient funds, will end up paying more because they will "top-up" the basic services provided by public providers, or even replace them entirely, by paying for private sector services.

This "benchmark" is closely associated with the following "benchmark": "6 Reform public services to deliver better value for money", so I will give more analysis when I cover that "benchmark".

The details:

"We will raise the private sector's share of the economy in all regions of the country, especially outside London and the South East."

"Too many areas of the UK lack a vibrant private sector and are too dependant on public spending."

The details are somewhat vague. The pledge to "raise the private sector's share" means cutting regional aid and privatisation of services. When you consider that the two main areas of public services are health and education, then this is a blatant pledge to privatise parts of the NHS and schools. Not only will this give us fewer services at a lower standard, but it will ultimately cost all of us more.