However bad the last few years of government, the fundamental problem remains that the UK wants low taxes and high spending, and in an ageing society which adversely affects both sides of that equation, that's no longer tenable.
‘The UK wants’?
A lot of people understand that. I certainly do. But it's where the taxes are coming from that is a significant problem for many. Astronomical profits by energy companies and the big supermarkets, rightly imo, piss a lot of people off
People in all countries want that. The problem with UK is weak governance and weak political parties: If you tell people that it is possible (low tax, high spend), they get dissapointed. A political structure when majority wishes (like Rejoin) can be casually ignored is asking for problems.
hasn't that always been true though. I remember people complaining about that in the 80s.
Absolutely. A functioning NHS, railways that run on time, potholes filled, clean water, a decent social care system etc etc. But *someone else* has to fund it. Our taxes must not rise....
To add nuance here David many voters don’t want tax rises that affect them. They have no problem with tax rises that affect other people.
Getting rid of Westminster England arrogance, fraud, theft, lies and gross ineptitude would solve the problem. In fact get rid of Westminster England and its scandals, farcical ideas, disgraceful costs and ruinous elitism.
Yup. And they will always, ALWAYS vote for people who promise to either lower taxes or keep them the same. There is literally no incentive for any party to tell the British people the truth - that you can't have US-style taxes with Scandinavian-type public services.
I think we're a couple of percentage points behind the G7 and roughly on par with the OECD for tax as a percentage of GDP, so there is probably scope for an increase but it seems like the tax take just vanishes down a bottomless pit at the moment.