UK: Boris Johnson: Show us the money!
By: Iain Fraser - Consultant Editor
In a marked reversal of the fiscal restraint enforced over the past nine years by the previous administrations of Cameron and May, respectively; new PM Boris Johnson has pledged a massive boost to public spending at the same time as implementing tax cuts?
So just where is all this money coming from and what is it going to cost the UK tax payer or is it all just bluff and bluster for the hustings? Remember, this man has "form" for failing to deliver on promises. Nobody at the Number 10 office was available to help me with my calculations when I contacted them this morning, so I have calculated my own, what I believe to be, extremely conservative figures for the outline cost of each key pledge and it stacks up to a colossal £32bn+ and
that's without his scheme for deploying country-wide fibre broadband not having even been costed.
In the meantime these are Johnson´s promises and my estimated costs to date
1. Raising the 40% tax threshold from £50k to £80k - Cost: £9bn
2. Increasing the starting point for national insurance to £12,500 - Cost: £11bn
3. Raising the level at which stamp duty is levied - Cost: £3.8bn
4. Raise education spending to £4,000 for primary & £5,000 for secondary pupils - Cost: £4.6bn
5. Recruiting 20,000 extra police officers - Cost: £1.1bn
6. 10,000 new prison places - Cost: £2.5 bn
6. Free TV licenses for the over-75s - Cost: £250m
7. Country wide roll-out of Fibre Broadband - Cost: Worryingly Not Available!
