• “Progressives” remember that the only time the Lib Dems were in government in the last 80 years, they voted for massive cuts to public services and council funding, and a tax on poorer people’s bedrooms, among many other catastrophes, for which we’re all paying a price.
And don’t get me started on Vince Cable’s fire sale of Royal Mail. The question Martin Kettle should be asking is: “How is this disgraceful outfit still going?” Peter Loschi
Oldham, Greater Manchester
• “Maybe people don’t take the Lib Dems seriously because of the sense that the party is opportunistic, a fact that manifested itself in 2010. Under Nick Clegg, it couldn’t move fast enough to form a coalition government, which went on to inflict the cruel and callous economic austerity measures that reverberate to this day. The Lib Dems are, and always have been, anything to anyone, depending on which way the wind is blowing.”
Gordon Vassell
Hull
• Over the past 70 years, the Lib Dems and their predecessors have presented themselves as a party of protest primarily aimed at disaffected supporters of the government of the day. Before then, Liberal party key thinkers such as David Lloyd George, John Maynard Keynes and William Beveridge offered realistic critiques of political and economic “certainties” and were profoundly instrumental in establishing the welfare state and postwar full employment. Such far-sightedness offers a model of political thinking and practice to all who want substantial change today.
In his column, Martin Kettle rightly highlights the important writings of David Marquand, a man of great analysis and vision. In Mammon’s Kingdom, he laid bare the devastating trajectory of UK politics and economics since 1979. Everyone interested in politics – left, centre or right – should read this book and, as they do, ask themselves how we stop this continuing catastrophe. Marquand’s death last week was a very severe loss for us all.
Paul Lally
Liverpool
In the first of a two-part series, business reporters look at how parts of the service economy are faring almost two and a half years after the end of the Brexit transition period in late 2020.
“Britain voted to leave the EU seven years ago, but has failed to define its new global trading relationships. To regain its place as one of the strongest growing G7 countries, Britain needs a bold, forward-looking policy agenda and industrial strategy integrated with an actively… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
China USA trade war is serious threat to Britain thanks to #Brexit.
“Britain voted to leave the EU seven years ago, but has failed to define its new global trading relationships.”
Analysis finds that the UK’s economy will suffer more than those of the US, EU and China in the… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Tories are drawing up plans for a succession of by-elections in the event that Boris Johnson is forced to resign and prominent supporters stand down so they can accept peerages.
The Times has been told that party staffers will conduct a series of “by-election drills” next week… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Senior Tories are increasingly concerned that Johnson could resign in protest if the report, due next month, is critical of him. He could also face a by-election if the committee decides to suspend him from the Commons for 10+ days.
Johnson has denied that he is preparing to make a “chicken run” to Henley, a constituency in Oxfordshire he previously represented. John Howell, the incumbent who is standing down, has said that Johnson would succeed him “over my dead body”. A spokesman for Johnson said: “Boris… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Clark said PM was so unenthusiastic about the idea that it was “like a guilty secret”, and that he had never heard Sunak even refer to “industrial strategy”.
The role of the state in the market economy has become a huge issue after US president Joe Biden’s $369bn green subsidy… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Another huge error by Sunak when chancellor: he binned Clark’s industrial strategy in March 2021 in a move that even surprised some of those working in Boris Johnson’s government at the time. “The Treasury blindsided us,” said one official.
“#Brexit is the last straw after a succession of damaging, mainly Tory, policies: ironically, these were justified as being in the interests of business, investment and productivity.
But the Thatcher govts from 1979 onwards inflicted serious damage on the economy. I have… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
“With an economy suffering cumulative effects of poor growth or absolute decline in real incomes – and along comes #Brexit. And what does former remainer @Keir_Starmer do? He ignores the open goal of the government’s disaster and says “make Brexit work”. theguardian.com/business/2023/…
A recent poll shows it Labour were to face facts and argue that Brexit was a mistake, its share of the vote would actually increase. As Prof Andrew Blick @KingsCollegeLon says: “The party seems to have drawn the conclusion that it cannot come back into power if it criticises… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Thanks to #Brexit 🇬🇧 is already 2/3 of the way to…The Great Depression.
For a nation which until a few short years ago was the envy of the world — but then decided to basically inflict the Great Depression on itself.
It’s like watching someone who was in perfect health@until last week and now they have a case of cancer so advanced there are tumors all over the body, and they’re going into organ failure. Never seen anything like it. Beggars belief. Shouldn’t happen. Shouldn’t even be possible.
Britain has become the rich world’s Argentina, and that’s not exaggeration. It has plunged itself into something that’s already 2/3 of the way to the Great Depression, and that’s not overstating the case at all, it’s an empirical fact.