Why attacking the Chancellor for the current state of public finances is a mistake - Yorkshire Post Letters

It is no use some sections of the media making nasty personal attacks against the Chancellor for the current state of public finances.

Who would have imagined, 60 years ago, that this country would cease to be a manufacturer of motor vehicles, trains or aircraft other than as assemblers of components designed and produced abroad.

This is a situation inflicted on the country for three reasons.

On the conservative side a small percentage of the population have made personal fortunes from the manipulation of financial markets for their own benefit, but at the expense of the overall economy.

Those responsible for this action have been careful to ensure that political leaders also accumulated money from the same source.

On the socialist side the policies pursued, particularly in the local government sector, have been to regard mucky industry as something to be disposed of so as to make the country clean and green, with businesses driven out of cities into the countryside or on the fringes of the motorway network.

Then we have the trade unions which for decades have regarded big industry as something to be attacked on a daily basis.

It is a mystery why this is the socialist thing to do in our country when the socialist countries of the world which these same people so admire have pursued the exact opposite policy.

Our country has been saved from serious economic problems by the vast diversification of the numbers of services provided in our economy.

The increase in the range of goods on sale in our supermarkets and services provided to our people has been repeated in industrial and commercial sectors of the economy invisible to shoppers in the street but which now make up the bedrock of economic prosperity in the country.

The remaining sectors of the economy exist against a background of unhelpful attitudes in government departments, mirrored by some sectors of the academic community, who view those involved in commerce as an inferior form of life and whose incomes and pensions are the last ones to suffer any fall in the event of economic problems.

Before the European Union government became so dominant it was a feature of life in our neighbouring countries that local and national government politicians and officials would devote significant efforts to supporting industries in their countries with a diverse range of measures taken to support any form of business activity.

The extent to which we eat agricultural produce from Europe which is offered at the same prices as local food being an example of how government support permits their agriculture to compete with our own despite the transport costs of bringing goods in from distant parts of the continent.