UK productivity lowest since 2008: Osborne & Tories are failing

[beorhthelm]

It seems a bit odd that for 25-odd years in a row we were told that Britain's education results were getting better and better, yet now we are told one of the reasons for low productivity are 16-24 year olds not having the necessary skills for work.

I recognise that the high value, highly productive goods and services were oil production, financial and banking and that because they've dipped this had an effect on the nation's productivity figures overall.

The bottom line is that some of the richest individuals and companies are simply not paying enough tax into the system. The tax havens need to be shut down and the multinationals need to start paying their fair share.

nice axe you're grinding there. productivity is lower for reasons... lets raises taxes! unless it goes into high return infrastructure, more tax and spending will not improve productivity.

 

[El Presidente]

try to remember where we were in 2008.

Seventh in League One under Dean Wilkins?

 

[heathgate]

Seventh in League One under Dean Wilkins?

Fair to middling.

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

I heard someone talk about building a 6 lane [3 each way] motorway from Dover to Plymouth 100 metres out to sea.
Would solve all the south coast traffic congestion issues but might be a bit of an eyesore?
Bit like the road from Miami to Key West kinda thing.

Oh yes please, never going to happen in my lifetime though.
The only sure way to get from Plymouth to Sussex in reasonable time is to leave late in the evening or very early in the morning.
It can be a nightmare journey whichever way you go especially in the summer one prang or overturned caravan and that's yer lot.
Just a by pass from Chichester to Brighton would really help though. M5 M4 M25 M23 can be either ok or worse than A303 M27 A27 so I now travel through the night.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

The only solution to road congestion is to ban private car ownership, other than in exceptional circumstances where a GENUINE need for one can be proven (eg disability, living in an otherwise inaccesible rural area, etc). Unfortunately, such is the fetishisation of the motor vehicle (see dangerous garbage like 'Top Gear') that no political party would ever dare suggest it. Just look at the way Brighton's recent Green (albeit minority) council did absolutely nothing to get cars off our streets, the bottle jobs.

Someone on here once made the assertion that if people can pop-to-the-shops by car then driving is too cheap. I see this point.

Something that has become quite apparent to me over the past few years is the level of congestion in Brighton by not only cars but buses. Western Road and North Street is utterly chaotic these days with bus after bus after bus clogging up the road and swinging out into th road. Get rid of the cars and buses and install trams.

 

[Bulldog]

Exactly,..... I love the leftys on this boardf, who in one breath bleat incessantly about the housing balloon, how it is evil capitalism at its worst,.. then in the next breath demand that we maintain open borders, increasing population, more house building etc etc,.... let me tell you sir, these houses are not council houses, they are in the main private builds, and will be sold as such, and will thus hand in hand with the population/migration issue, drive prices ever higher.

Hang on a moment, I'm a leftie, I'm on here, but I most definitely do NOT demand that we maintain open borders and increase population. A few more homes for people to live in would be nice but stop the ridiculous generalisations.

Bloody Tories, you're all the same.

 

[heathgate]

Hang on a moment, I'm a leftie, I'm on here, but I most definitely do NOT demand that we maintain open borders and increase population. A few more homes for people to live in would be nice but stop the ridiculous generalisations.

Bloody Tories, you're all the same.

I am not a Conservative voter in the main, just once in my 33 years of being eligible to vote......

 

[Gwylan]

nice axe you're grinding there. productivity is lower for reasons... lets raises taxes! unless it goes into high return infrastructure, more tax and spending will not improve productivity.

I agree that increasing the tax yield will not automatically improve productivity but there are ways that it could be used. As El Pres says, the UK has an under-trained workforce and certainly could improve there.

I've just been speaking to a Volkswagen executive about a shift in its IT infrastructure. The company is spending huge sums of money on a mass training programme so that its workforce has the requisite skills. That wouldn't happen here: in the UK, they'd train some, pay higher wages to recruit more and leave vacancies so that everyone has to work longer hours (I generalise but that's too often the way).

But I don't see this as something to beat Cameron and Osborne with, UK productivity has been low for some time. I remember discussing it in my economics A level 40 years ago. We are 16% less productive than Germany for a multitude of economic and cultural reasons and there's no single government to blame for that

 

[Gwylan]

Double post

 

[Mellotron]

Of course it is, ...... keep clutching at those straws...... all good from my perspective.

Said it for us. Brilliant.

 

[glasfryn]

au contraire mon ami,..... I am looking ast the wider picture, the longer term outcomes, not just the quick fix throwing money we dont have at any and all issues, digging the nation into a deeper and deeper hole,... try to remember where we were in 2008.

5th richest country in the world
lets hope you don't have the need of a doctor in hospital any time soon

 

[Gregory2Smith1]

Someone on here once made the assertion that if people can pop-to-the-shops by car then driving is too cheap. I see this point.

Something that has become quite apparent to me over the past few years is the level of congestion in Brighton by not only cars but buses. Western Road and North Street is utterly chaotic these days with bus after bus after bus clogging up the road and swinging out into th road. Get rid of the cars and buses and install trams.

exactly this

the city of Toulouse is doing just that,it's really grown over the last 20 years,mainly because of Airbus

the city centre is quite easy to get around,it only has 2 lines on the underground,a 3rd is under construction

not sure Brighton would warrant an underground mind,but trams are an excellent idea

new tram lines are popping up all over the city of Toulouse,it really is the way forward for the larger towns & cities

and it's nice being able to walk round the city centre without having to constantly look out for crazy bus drivers

 

[heathgate]

Said it for us. Brilliant.

Aahhh... the royal 'us'?.or just your warped sense of 'everyone is a lefty' and must surely share your view of the world.

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[Pavilionaire]

nice axe you're grinding there. productivity is lower for reasons... lets raises taxes! unless it goes into high return infrastructure, more tax and spending will not improve productivity.

I'm not grinding any axe, I'm merely pointing out that if we want to get the health and education services to which we aspire you can't have the likes of Starbucks and Amazon continuing to taking the piss. Tax rates paid by ordinary people are pretty high, something like 35-40p in the pound in various direct and indirect taxes.

If Labour got their sh1t together they'd walk the next election. Osborne is a nasty piece of work.

 

[heathgate]

5th richest country in the world
lets hope you don't have the need of a doctor in hospital any time soon

Make your mind up..... I thought the economy was shot......at least that's what you keep saying.

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[glasfryn]

Make your mind up..... I thought the economy was shot......at least that's what you keep saying.

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not a case of make your mind up we are the 5th richest country in the world ................just that the richest have the wealth.
been to a hospital lately, tried to get respite from a coucil, or had to go to a doctor to get a docket to go to a food bank,try calling a policeman to a break in.
watch the local news where immigrants are coming out of a car transporter, nothing done so far and that was in August.
this lot could not run a p1ss-up in a brewery

 

[heathgate]

not a case of make your mind up we are the 5th richest country in the world ................just that the richest have the wealth.
been to a hospital lately, tried to get respite from a coucil, or had to go to a doctor to get a docket to go to a food bank,try calling a policeman to a break in.
watch the local news where immigrants are coming out of a car transporter, nothing done so far and that was in August.
this lot could not run a p1ss-up in a brewery

Well I think things are moving in the right direction.... in every society there are mistakes, anomalies and exceptions... you can pluck examples to your hearts content.

My wife has been going through cancer surgery and treatment this year.... no issues at all. My experience with NHS is good.

I think if you look hard enough you can present a gloomy outlook, but like the permanently offended and outraged left, who simply cannot believe that Ed didn't get the vote... you need to consider better where this country would be if the spend spend spend policies of Miliband Brown and Blair would have left us if continued through the extended world financial crisis.

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[Gwylan]

you need to consider better where this country would be if the spend spend spend policies of Miliband Brown and Blair would have left us if continued through the extended world financial crisis.

As I pointed out the other day, when you look at actual Bank of England figures (not the department of made-up statistics) historically it's the Tories who have borrowed heavily when in office and Labour who pay back debt, so there's little actual evidence for this.

However, in a period of recession, there's an argument for spending heavily to boost the economy. Osborne has done that, the problem is how that spending has been targeted. There's certainly no sense that it's boom time out there

 

[gordonchas]

As I pointed out the other day, when you look at actual Bank of England figures (not the department of made-up statistics) historically it's the Tories who have borrowed heavily when in office and Labour who pay back debt

Do you have a link for that?

 

[Gwylan]

Do you have a link for that?

Here you go, it's an interesting read. The guy who put the analysis together is a Labour party adviser so he does have a vested interest but the figures themselves are from the Bank of England

http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/...the-biggest-borrowers-over-the-last-70-years/

I also saw some similar analysis in the US which shows that Republicans who are big spenders in government, not the Democrats, which goes against perceived wisdom, although the differences are not quite so stark