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Richard Murphy

@RichardJMurphy

Mar 1

Rishi Sunak is standing outside Downing Street saying that the newly chosen MP for Rochdale, elected yesterday, is the reason why he must crush our democratic freedoms. In the process he appeals to theocracy whilst totally undermining the democracy he claims to support.

The reality is that if there are extremists in the country it is those members of his party who want to create divisions in this country for their own small minded gains.

Worse, he appeals to our history as imperialist colonisers and deniers of freedom to billions to justify his position. If he wished to cause offence, that commentary is clearly intended to deliver it and is utterly blind to the prejudice created by economic and social division in our society,

Read 8 tweets

Richard Murphy

@RichardJMurphy

Feb 10

Quite extraordinarily, leading politicians, including Kier Starmer and Rachel Reeves have in the last few days returned to talking about the country maxing out its credit card, just as David Cameron did in 2015. This is utterly absurd. A thread…

[This is a long thread. If it appears to stop part way through, push the button to ‘see more replies’ and the rest should appear.]

As a matter of fact, a country can’t have a credit card. It’s even questionable whether the UK has a national debt when what politicians describe as such is made up of all our notes and coins plus all the savings accounts that people have with the government.

Read 36 tweets

Richard Murphy

@RichardJMurphy

Feb 9

Labour says it cannot now afford to spend £28 billion a year to deliver the investment in the climate transition that we all know we need. Let’s leave the politics and even the climate bit aside. Let me just look at the affordability bit. A thread….

Labour announced its green investment plan in 2021. And nothing much has changed since then, to be candid. For example, by the time it gets to office inflation will have been and gone.

Growth will also be non-existent then, as it was in 2021. Borrowing will be high, as it was back then. But government borrowing costs will be tumbling this year. They may not be at 2021 levels. But they really won’t be an obstacle to spending.

Read 23 tweets

Richard Murphy

@RichardJMurphy

Jan 14

There is justifiable outrage right now about the fact that the Post Office has been able to prosecute sub-postmasters itself based on data it generated. I get that anger, but we should remember that HM Revenue and Customs do this every day to thousands of people….

[This is a long thread. If it appears to stop part way please press the ‘See more replies’ option below the tweet where it appears to run out and the rest should appear]

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is, when it comes to imposing fines, quite literally a rule unto itself. It imposes millions of fines a year. Many of them are for not submitting tax returns, and many of those are on people who had no taxable income, or none to declare.

Read 38 tweets

Richard Murphy

@RichardJMurphy

Jan 12

War, of some sort, has begun in the Red Sea and Yemen. The UK is involved. It is likely that there will be action for a while. Ignoring the ethics of the engagement, for now, what are the economic consequences? A thread……

Because this war is going to make passage of the Red Sea more, rather than less, dangerous for the time being it is inevitable that for an unknown period the cost of shipping goods and raw materials from the Far and Middle East will rise. Suez is going to be out of action.

But let’s be clear: the diversion of shipping around the Cape of Good Hope has already begun. And whilst there are costs, and delays, in that they are not on a major scale. Saudi cuts to the price of oil might more than compensate for them.

Read 15 tweets

Richard Murphy

@RichardJMurphy

Jan 7

Without wishing to oversimplify things, there is a binary choice in politics. You can either emphasise the needs of the individual or of society. For the first time in more than a century, the UK's two leading political parties are emphasising the individual and not society.

No wonder so many are disenchanted with politics. Only those who are willing to turn a blind eye to the needs of others are now represented by the mainstream choices presented to us. Anyone who cares about society has no one to represent them.

This is not healthy for politics, democracy, society or those whom it should be supporting, from the young to the elderly, to the sick, to those with a disability, or who are on low pay, or who simply need a helping hand.

Read 14 tweets

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