The Sunday Times - UK (2022-05-22)

24 The Sunday Times May 22, 2022

COMMENT

Robert Colvile

aren’t holding another on the same scale

until 2023. The prime minister has a

crowded priority list, but he proved as

mayor of London that, when he puts his

back into it, there are few people better

at wooing business — or championing

wealth creation.

Many people in No 10 and the

Treasury, at very high levels, completely

get the importance of this agenda. The

creation of the Office for Investment has

been widely praised, as has the

chancellor’s proposed reform of

financial regulation. But we need to

make it an absolute priority.

Shouting to the world that Britain is a

resolutely, implacably and vocally pro-

business country isn’t the kind of thing

that wins votes, though I wish it were.

But it’s the only way to generate the

growth that votes come from. One of the

key points from our research is that

investors want to buy into success: the

more business-friendly Britain is, the

more dynamic our domestic economy,

the more the world’s best companies

and talent will want to come on board.

As one of our interviewees said,

complaining about the slow pace of post-

Brexit reform: “On much of this stuff,

everyone knows what needs to be done.

We need to get on and do it.” Amen.

@RColvile

decisions has, individually, been made.

The government needs to repay the

enormous costs of the pandemic. Taxing

businesses is a lot more popular than

taxing consumers. The Treasury thinks

George Osborne reduced corporation

tax too much anyway. We do need

massive investment in energy to cut

costs, cut carbon and cut out Putin.

But, taken as a whole, it’s hardly an

agenda that puts business first — or

encourages it to move here.

It’s not just about policy, though.

What many of our interviewees talked

about was the importance of culture,

tone and narrative. Of the pro-business

agenda being consistently championed

from the top.

The example that came up constantly

was Emmanuel Macron. Apparently, a

chief executive can hardly cross into

French airspace these days without

having their plane diverted to the

Elysée Palace. One business leader told

us that invitations to the president’s

latest glitzy investment summit at

Versailles went out within hours of his

re-election — with follow-up emails sent

to junior colleagues to make sure the

message had landed.

Britain put on its own investment gala

in October, featuring dinner at Downing

Street and tea with the Queen. But we

measure remains what it always has

been — economically damaging, fiscally

insignificant (when compared with the

scale of the cost-of-living crisis) and

politically irresistible.

Those in No 10 are right when they

resist such a tax as “un-Conservative”.

But how Conservative was it to raise the

prospect in the first place, to force

energy companies to increase

investment? As with Michael Gove’s arm-

twisting of the housebuilders on

cladding, the quid pro quo was very

clear: do what we want, or we’ll tax you.

In other words: nice dividend you’ve got

there. Shame if anything happened to it.

It’s easy to see why each of these

tax breaks for business investment in the

autumn. That’s very good news: the

woeful level of such investment is one of

our biggest economic problems. But

these new rates will be a replacement for

the temporary “super-deduction”

brought in to juice corporate spending

during the pandemic. They may be more

generous. They will probably be less so.

And then, next April, comes the real

stinger: a six-point increase in

corporation tax for firms making more

than £250,000 in profit. This is a great

big thumping tax rise on business. By the

end of this parliament it will earn the

Treasury more than £17 billion a year.

That isn’t the end of it. Last month the

government made the extremely

sensible decision to protect low and

middle earners from its national

insurance rises (a compromise first

suggested in this column). But the hike

in the other half of national insurance,

paid by employers, went ahead as

planned.

Similarly, the energy price cap has

helped to protect consumers from

soaring gas prices — even if it does not

feel that way. But there is no cap for

businesses, which have been exposed to

the full horror in the markets.

Then there is the debate over a

windfall tax on energy companies. This

‘T

he true driver of growth is
not government. It is the
energy and dynamism and
originality of the private
sector.” Boris Johnson’s
address to the CBI in
November will live in
infamy as “the Peppa Pig
speech”. But his remarks as a whole
were intended to make a profound
point. It is not just rather wonderful that
a pig that looks like a hairdryer has
become a business worth £6 billion and
counting. It is that post-Brexit Britain
will prosper only if it is hospitable to
innovation and entrepreneurship — the
kind of innovation, as he pointed out,
that saved countless lives during the
Covid crisis.
Yet since the referendum the signals
we have been sending business have
been mixed — to put it politely.
For the past few months I’ve been
working on a project with my colleagues
at the Centre for Policy Studies think
tank, supported by Shore Capital. We
have spoken to more than 100 senior
decision-makers, controlling hundreds
of billions of pounds in capital, about
what they think of Britain as an
investment destination. It is, as far as
we’re aware, the largest such exercise
anyone has carried out. And the

overwhelming message of the report,

which is published tomorrow, is that

Britain has been gradually becoming a

worse place to put your money.

This verdict was all the more powerful

for being fairly measured. People didn’t

start ranting to us about Brexit. They

didn’t excoriate the government. They

talked about Britain’s natural

advantages, its strengths in all manner of

sectors, the high level of investment it

attracts and how it was still a much more

attractive destination on many fronts

than its rivals in Europe.

But they also talked about the burden

of tax. The safety-first culture of

regulation. The planning system. The

lack of certainty. How the government

still hasn’t set out an irresistible

narrative about post-Brexit Britain as an

investment destination. How Whitehall

departments never seem to talk to one

another. About a hundred niggly things,

from queues at Heathrow to limits on

investment schemes, that we could be

doing better.

To see why they may have a point,

consider the chancellor’s own address to

the CBI, at its annual dinner last week.

The headlines blared: “Sunak vows to

cut business taxes”. But that isn’t what

he was promising at all.

Yes, the chancellor did promise new

Johnson is a past

master at wooing

business. He

needs to put his

back into it now

Bosses can’t enter French airspace without

being hijacked by Macron, and they love it

JOIN THE CONVERSATION ONLINE

Your comments from

thesundaytimes.co.uk

Are eggs intrinsically funny?
During a robust discussion of
the virtues of Margaret
Thatcher under our report
that her statue had had the
egg treatment, it was not long
before Jonathan S cracked:
“Police were scrambled to
attend the scene.” We’d have
thought soldiers might be
more use, but Marcus Lau
added: “They need eggstra

security.” Michael Rafferty

was unimpressed: “Not the

best yolk yet about Margaret

Hatcher.” Chris Lewis tried:

“Breggxit protest, anyone?”

Roland Butter brought the

fun to an end with: “An oeuf!”

Many of you thought

Louise Callaghan’s Magazine

piece about the party people

of Kyiv was a new high in an

already distinguished career.

A Richardson hailed an

“extraordinary piece” and

“the remarkable resilience

and bravery of these young

people ... which includes the

reporter”. “This account

should be part of the story of

the war in Ukraine,” Hin Lee

thought. “It depicts how,

despite the horror, this war

has transformed a generation

of young Ukrainians, who will

play a dominant part in the

postwar reconstruction.”

Timbo Nicks argued: “Putin

and Kadyrov are described as

‘strongmen’. But these young

Ukrainians who stayed to

defend their homes have

shown they are stronger.”

Peter Sweetman grouched:

“I wonder what they are on.”

Easy, replied Lynne

Topping: “FREEDOM.”

It was a big weekend for

Ukrainian music, and

InNomineLiberatis cheekily

asked: “Does anyone know

who won Eurovision? I

passed out when France gave

us 12 points.” “Typical. You

can’t even rely on the French

to bear a grudge,” joked Mr

AJ Pryer, winning “douze

points” from Dilettante.

Sandra Clarke’s family had

“watched with our Ukrainian

guest. The result was like a

film script — maybe it will be a

film script one day.” “So did

we,” said Sue, “and she

played the national anthem

on the piano as it was ending.

Fantastic evening.” Which left

just one question, as NMW

pointed out: “Why did no one

give that wolf a banana?”

Rob Nash

Last week we asked:

Should the use of private e-scooters be legalised?

From a poll of 4,980 Times and Sunday Times readers

This week’s question: Should the government impose a

windfall tax on oil and gas companies?

Have your say at sundaytimes.co.uk/poll

NO

41% 59%

YES

READERS’ POLL

Terror tactics

I am a 77-year-old widow and,

like the woman in your

report, I was threatened with

a visit by two enforcement

officers, who I was told would

enter my home and “remove

assets to cover the debt”. I

was frightened witless. I paid

the arrears, an oversight on

my part, but I felt terrorised.

Jennifer Brocklehurst, Reading

Most were bewildered,

upset and confused, having

led a blameless life and now

facing a court case for

watching TV, often their only

source of entertainment.I

imagined the juggling of their

finances and the problems

about to heaped on them. I

felt then that the licence fee

should be abolished. I still do.

Ian Sutherland, Huddersfield

prioritised its own reputation

over truth and justice for

decades, covering up the

sexual crimes of priests. This

is similar to how knowledge

of terrible crimes and fatal

medical disasters have been

suppressed by the NHS. But,

as the Catholic Church has

discovered, eventually the

truth will out.

Robert Frazer, Salford

System at fault

Improving a large system

such as the NHS demands

complex answers, and they

must encompass investment

and long-term planning.

Our capital spending is less

than half that in Germany, the

Netherlands and Denmark.

And the government voted

down amendments in the

recent Health and Care Bill

for long-term staff planning.

Dr Jennifer Dixon

Chief executive

The Health Foundation

Going Dutch

For an example of how a

health service should be run,

Letters should arrive by

midday on Thursday and

include the full address and a

phone number. We may edit

letters, which must be

exclusive to The Sunday Times

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LETTERS

TO THE EDITOR

The Sunday Times,

1 London Bridge Street,

London SE1 9GF

Email: letters@

sunday-times.co.uk

1970 Cricket Council

agrees to withdraw

invitation to South Africa

1981 Peter Sutcliffe

sentenced to life in jail for

murder of 13 women

2015 Ireland votes to

legalise same-sex marriage

2017 Suicide bomber at

Manchester Arena kills 22

as fans leave a concert

Amanda Spielman is 61

ANNIVERSARIES

BIRTHDAYS POINTS

Lynn Barber, journalist, 78

Lord (Menzies) Campbell of

Pittenweem, Lib Dem peer, 81

Naomi Campbell, model, 52

Steven Morrissey, singer, 63

Tom Scudamore, jockey, 40

Jon Sopel, broadcaster, 63

Amanda Spielman, chief

inspector of schools, 61

Irwin Stelzer, economist, 90

Bernie Taupin, lyricist, 72

Dressed to arrest

Laura Pullman proudly wore

a Jean Paul Gaultier “naked

dress”, showing a lifelike

nude female, on Oxford

Street (News, last week). I

wonder if a man wearing

lifelike “naked trousers”

would have attracted a

similarly good-humoured

response ... or whether he

would have been arrested.

Richard Fosbraey

Sittingbourne

Pottering peers

If the government persuades

the House of Lords to move to

Stoke-on-Trent (News, last

week), where will it send the

Commons? Coventry,

perhaps?

David Griffiths, Cheltenham

Bono contest

You mention U2 in your

article on the most annoying

bands (News Review, last

week). The (possibly

apocryphal) story goes that

they were also subject to the

greatest heckle. At a Dublin

gig, Bono told the audience to

hush and started clicking his

fingers. “Every time I click my

fingers, somewhere a child

dies,” he said softly. Out of the

gloom a voice shouted: “Stop

f***in’ doing it, then.”

Simon Miller

Thames Ditton, Surrey

Johnson’s home truths

The prime minister says

working from home doesn’t

work. Freudian slip, own goal

or both?

Rod Craig

Kingston Lisle, Oxfordshire

Whizz squid

Greg Jackson of Octopus

Energy says he will

revolutionise the way we

power our homes (Magazine,

last week). Sounds great, but

perhaps he should focus on

his smart meters. Since I had

to change tariffs on March 17,

Octopus has been unable to

update the meter: it says I

have used £65 this month,

but my bill will be £128. Come

on, Greg: get the basics right.

J Henderson, Truro

Easy on the eye

The art establishment’s

disdain for Jack Vettriano

(News, last week) recalls wine

snobs’ views of Blue Nun and

Mateus Rosé in the 1960s and

1970s. They may not be fine

vintages, but they introduced

wine to the British public,

thereby creating some of the

world’s most discerning

wine-drinkers. Vettriano may

be doing the art world a

similar service. And his work

always makes me smile.

Stephen J Lockwood

Deganwy, Conwy

Battle plan

I thank Ross Clark for his

column on the “nimby

apocalypse” (Home, last

week). If Michael Gove’s

planning proposals go ahead,

I foresee ruinous court cases

and possible violence as

neighbour is pitched against

neighbour.

Ian Ross, Weston-super-Mare

A mere Wagatelle

Mad Vlad is threatening to

nuke us; in a year we may

have to eat our pets; but the

newspapers are obsessed by

Vardy v Rooney, a petty

squabble among the entitled.

Am I missing something?

Chris Webster, New Malden

look at the Netherlands. Their

system guarantees treatment,

paid for through private

insurance. No insurance

company can penalise

anybody on grounds of health

or age. The state covers those

unable to pay premiums.

I once suggested to the

health secretary that we

should adopt such a system.

He replied dismissively, “It

would cost too much.” That

was simply another way of

saying that the public would

realise what the true cost of

good health service would be.

Ron Forrest, Wells, Somerset

Waste measurement

A friend of mine recently had

hip replacement surgery and

was supplied with a new

armchair with a high seat.

After a few weeks she rang

the hospital to say the chair

was no longer required and

could it be collected. She was

told to take it to the local tip.

If that approach is taken

nationwide, no wonder the

NHS is in trouble.

Jim Crean, Lytham St Annes

An NHS march in 2018: Hunt was rarely popular with staff

What a nerve! Jeremy Hunt

tells us “How I would fix the

NHS” (News Review, last

week) — but he was the

longest-serving health

secretary in British history.

He did nothing to increase

hospital capacity, so now

ambulances queue outside

A&E, unable to discharge

patients. He deliberately

alienated junior doctors,

causing the strike of 2014. He

did nothing to integrate the

NHS with social care.

This is the man who could

replace the fool we now have

in No 10. Heaven help us.

Dr WJ Fielding, retired GP

Rugby

Inside man

How refreshing: a politician

admitting he made mistakes,

and confirming from the

inside what we already knew

from the outside. Hunt has

integrity.

Edward Lambert

Ripon, North Yorkshire

Central flaw

Hunt makes excellent points

but misses a key factor – the

structure of the NHS itself.

Aneurin Bevan, who helped

found the NHS in 1948, is

reputed to have said, “If a

bedpan is dropped in a

hospital corridor in Tredegar,

the reverberations should

echo around Whitehall.”

Now, Hunt writes of having to

read selections of patients’

letters to find out what was

going on. Both show the

problems of having a single,

huge bureaucracy.

We need a fundamental

restructuring, with the whole

lumbering system broken

down into manageable units.

Murray Stephen

Westcott, Surrey

Holy inadequate

The NHS is described, only

half jokingly, as Britain’s state

religion. With Hunt’s exposure

of the culture of “omerta”

surrounding avoidable

deaths, we can see where it

has started to assume the

trappings of a real religion.

The Catholic Church

Hunt had six years to ‘fix the NHS’ — and didn’t

shows it can restore nature,

decarbonise farming and

feed everyone healthily — as

long as it is not imposed

overnight, as it was in Sri

Lanka by a government that

ran out of foreign exchange to

buy fertiliser.

Jo Lewis, policy director

Soil Association, Bristol

Scared of success

It is a curious feature of

modern civilisation that we

have demonised so many of

the very industries that have

resulted in us becoming as

wealthy, successful and

healthy as we are.

Philip McSweeney

Richmond, London

Last resort

Your article neglected to

mention that most first-time

offenders aren’t prosecuted if

they buy a licence. A TV

Licensing visit occurs only

after a series of reminder

letters. Prosecution is always

a last resort.

Pipa Doubtfire, director of

revenue management

TV Licensing

Where medicine leads

The arguments against GM

and other innovative

scientific changes to farming

are similar to those against

vaccination and life-saving

drugs for the human body.

Those who rightly support

new cancer drugs sometimes

fail to make the connection.

Stella Hollis, London SW1

Diet change

Lawson has a touching faith

in the agrochemical giant

Syngenta to know what’s best

for the planet. The company’s

head says Europe’s leaders

should drop their insistence

on organic farming; but they

back it because evidence

Verbing on the ridiculous

I dislike the trend for nouns

to become verbs. To “medal”

at the Olympics is perhaps

the most horrific example.

John Fuery

Roscommon, Ireland

Belfast agreement

Coming from “NornIreland”,

I do take issue with Rod about

personal pronouns. These

form part of the local dialect,

as in: “How’s yourself today?”

I think he supports linguistic

regionalism, so I hope he will

be tolerant of the use of the

reflexive pronoun if voiced in

a Northern Ireland accent.

Peter Blackwell-Smyth

St Stephen, Cornwall

Double counting

I was amused to read of

Liddle’s campaign regarding

the use of English. I then

turned to page 23, where

Dylan Jones wrote, “I can

count the number of men I

know who don’t have a

shaved head on my fingers.”

Perhaps Rod could have a

word with him?

Stewart Blomiley

Royston, Hertfordshire

Grammar as a

contact sport

Having railed against people
who use “myself ” instead of
“me”, Rod Liddle asks for
other words that reveal the
witlessness of the user
(Comment, last week). I
would nominate “reach out”,
as in: “I am reaching out to
you today ...” What is wrong
with “contacting”?
“Reach out” should only be
used in the context of an
overwrought Motown classic.
Wendy V Roberts, Bromley

Momentary lapse
I would like an end to the
phrase “at this moment in
time”. Preferably now.
Adrian Brodkin, London N2

Platitude du jour
I suggest banning the menu
terms “pan-fried” and “oven-
roasted”. Pans and ovens are
the normal ways to fry and
roast food. If restaurants keep
this up, we will soon have
“waitress-served” and
“sommelier-poured”.
Michael Cole, London SW3

US imports

My list for Rod would include

those who respond to, “How

are you?” with, “I’m good”;

and those who say, “I have

anxiety,” when they mean “I

am nervous”. I hope those

will resonate with himself.

Eleanor London

Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan

Wrong direction

“Going forward” and “being

completely honest”. The

expressions all too often

reflect precisely the opposite

direction or state of mind.

John Kidd

Queensland, Australia

Critical mass

May I add the word “crisis”?

We don’t have problems any

more, it seems. The NHS, for

example, has been in crisis

for as long as I can remember.

I fear we have a crisis of crises.

Robin Lloyd, Hemel Hempstead

Wrong division

“Share”, as in “I want to share

this information...”. Cake is

for sharing, not information.

David Austins

East Harptree, Somerset

We can’t afford

organic farming

As food shortages loom,

Dominic Lawson’s column

“Go organic and the poorest

will suffer the consequences”

(Comment, last week) raises

important points. A study by

Reading University and

others indicates that if food

production in England and

Wales were wholly organic,

total output would be only

64 per cent of that under

conventional farming. More

organic food production

means less food overall.

Tony Lawrence

Little Neston, Cheshire

Stop television

show trials

Your article “Elderly, disabled

— and hounded by TV

Licensing” (News, last week)

resonated with me. In my 22

years as a magistrate I was

often assigned to a television

licence session, and I felt for

the people being prosecuted.