Order, order!

Motion in support of fiscal responsibility

This House recognises that:

(1) The Chancellor of the Exchequer has stated that deficits up to 50 billion pounds are on the table for the Government’s budget.

(2) Fiscal deficits are tied to trade deficits under the twin deficits effect, meaning that as budgetary surpluses fall, so does the United Kingdom’s trade surplus.

(3) A growing trade deficit (caused by a fiscal deficit) is not a policy that is supportive of British workers or their families.

(4) A growing fiscal deficit burdens future budgets with larger debt payments, and limits future government spending ability.

(5) With an existing national debt that is nearly as large as the GDP of the United Kingdom, and debt payments of nearly 40 billion pounds, the United Kingdom has already taken enough debt.

(6) increased government spending creates a crowding out effect, limiting investment by British companies.

This House urges the government to:

(7) Consider the very real and negative effects of running any deficit, let alone a deficit comparable in size to the defence budget.

(8) Rule out a deficit of any size, in support of the fiscal future of the United Kingdom and the livelihoods of British workers.

This Motion was submitted by the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Rt. Hon. u/CheckMyBrain11 MBE PC MP MLA MSP on behalf of the Conservative & Unionist Party

This reading shall end on the 10th September 2019.

Opening speech:

Mr. Deputy Speaker,

The Sunrise Government has been in office for mere days, and has already committed themselves to a number of fiscally disastrous ideas. Whether that is the proposal to raise the VAT by 5%, or the commitment to a deficit up to 50 billion pounds, this Government needs to be reminded that ideas have consequences and government action does not take place in a vacuum.

The Conservative government laid out an extensive plan to decrease our debt-to-GDP burden and free up valuable government money for the future governments and generations. However, it seems that the Sunrise Government would sooner see us ballon that ratio up to 105% than dare to have the courage to say “we’ve spent enough of other people’s money, and it’s time to pay it back.”

Has the Chancellor dared to consider all that this means? First and foremost, he has neglected to consider the effect of a budgetary deficit on trade. Economists largely agree that the trade and budgetary deficits are closely linked through accounting identities and empirical evidence, and that running a budgetary deficit will cause a trade deficit to grow. If one wants to see the disastrous body of running budgetary deficits, look at the work of the American government and how 50 years of post-war deficits left the Americans with a trade deficit that’s $621 billion yearly.

Is the Chancellor prepared to justify shipping off British workers’ jobs overseas because he wants to get trigger-happy with spending those same workers’ tax dollars? I say, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that ideas have consequences, that spending too much money that isn’t yours will never be viable, and that unless the Rt. Hon. Chancellor is prepared to thank British workers for their tax money as he sends their livelihoods to a foreign country, he ought to tread carefully when preparing the budget.