The ranting of a grumpy old man!

1. John Major the incorrigible dinosaur…how do we shut him up?

What is this old political ‘war horse’ doing pontificating on our TV screens and the press about a second referendum and trumpeting the virtues of the EU? Did he not know the outcome of the last year’s referendum where the people decided? Lest we forget, this is the man that got us into the ERM, the precursor of the Euro, in the first place, many years ago, at the wrong rate, which we subsequently stumbled out of in the 1992 ignominious devaluation and thank goodness for this country that we did!

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Budget 2017: A Cry For Help

Mr Hammond, Sir, a multiplicity of businesses and property owners are suffering from the ineptitude of your predecessor and his ‘shock and awe’ SDLT hikes which have served to greatly distort the Capital’s Residential Property Markets in all sectors.

By exciting the markets in the lower prices, the vulnerable first time buyers have been further disenfranchised and the markets in the higher value ranges have been rendered stagnant and illiquid, with a 70% reduction in transactions. This has caused a needless DIY recession in this sector, resulting in less Stamp Duty Receipts for your Treasury.

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Breaking News: Stamp Duty Receipts Are Down For The Sale Of Properties At The Middle To Higher End

The number of properties sold in the middle to higher brackets have fallen by some 40% resulting in Stamp Duty, derived from sales above £1.5million from April to November last year, being down by £440million. How many hospitals and schools could this provide?

Isn’t it ironic, that the main plank of the former Chancellor Osborne’s fiscal discipline was to produce a Budget surplus in 2020, which has now been revised by Mr. Hammond, to approximately £20bn and 50% of this, according to the OBR, will be due to lower Stamp Duty Receipts; which was Osborne’s folly.
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