post full time work, pre coffin … it’s a journey so ski it, foil it, ride it, but most of all enjoy it.
On the water when it’s windy
Joined August 2016
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Steve Webb retweeted
Slavery was an evil in which people from every continent and region participated. We should be honest about the whole history, not select the parts that are politically convenient today, especially given Britain's leading role in ending the transatlantic slave trade.
If Caribbean countries are asking Britain for a formal apology for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade, will they also be asking the same of the descendants of African kingdoms, rulers and merchants who captured, sold and profited from the trade?
On demands for reparations, whether through cash or debt relief, we have been down this track before. Twenty-five years ago, Jubilee 2000, Drop the Debt and Make Poverty History argued that cancelling the debts of poorer countries would give them a fresh start. More than $100 billion of debt was eventually written off, but many of those countries have since built up even bigger debts. Labour are already spending too much on Britain's welfare state, now is not the time for Andy Burnham to be providing global welfare.
There is no reason British taxpayers today should be held financially responsible for things that happened generations before any of us were born. And I have even less patience for political elites in commonwealth countries who don’t know how to make their own citizens prosperous now looking for another opportunity to blame Britain.
As Prime Minister, Andy Burnham should be Britain’s greatest defender. Instead, he is writing articles saying we need to confront our history (as if we haven't done enough of that) and considering another formal historical apology. Tony Blair already expressed Britain’s deep sorrow and regret for our role in the slave trade nearly twenty years ago. There is no need to do so again.
This is all another navel-gazing distraction. The Commonwealth should be looking forward, not endlessly backwards. That means economic partnerships to make us all richer and deeper military and security cooperation against common threats. If every Commonwealth summit becomes an exercise in presenting Britain with demands for cash then we need to start asking if it is worth the effort.
Steve Webb retweeted
🚨 While families struggle with the cost of living, Labour are handing £40m to their mates for a ‘Union Learning Fund’!
Will they be teaching them how to go on strike?
A disgraceful waste of taxpayers’ money.
Steve Webb retweeted
WTF? A Prime Minister who has never run a business in his life demands answers because a private business fails? … let me help you, Andy & co.
A retail chain needs to stay in fashion, needs to go with the flow! … But you and successive governments don’t like their “tat” products (mostly sourced off shore to sell them at £1!!! That the whole point right?) anyway…
for free (without a taxpayer funded £MULTIMILLION enquiry I’ll tell you the problems… (you’re welcome)
▪️massively increased regulations and compliance costs.
▪️cheap tat sourced from abroad, with rising shipping and transport costs.
▪️Hit by increased minimum wages and employer National Insurance.
▪️Hit by rising rents and business rates.
▪️Hit by soaring energy bills and net zero costs.
▪️Hit by higher interest rates.
▪️Hit by consumers with less disposable income.
▪️Hit by the soaring cost of borrowing to buy stock months in advance.
▪️Hit by higher insurance premiums.
▪️Hit by shoplifting, organised theft and security costs.
▪️Hit by packaging taxes, recycling regulations and environmental compliance costs.( which you just throw into general taxation, non of it changes the weather)
▪️Hit by higher fuel, warehousing and distribution costs.
▪️Hit by increased employment costs, pensions and statutory obligations.
▪️Hit by competition from overseas online retailers operating with very different overheads.( duty free … for foreign businesses oops)
▪️And hit by the impossibility of passing those costs onto customers, who shop at Poundland precisely because they need cheap stuff! … which isn’t cheap anymore (see above)
Every single time you add something on … so do they!
And the idiot, deluded politicians who have made Britain more and more expensive and difficult to do business in, are demanding to know why businesses are struggling?
You are all moronic. My work here is done 🤡
Steve Webb retweeted
Labour are in trouble on this. And they clearly know it.
“Could he just outline where that reallocated capital spending will come from?”
Cue this rant at the Despatch Box from Wes Streeting to hide his discomfort at not knowing the answer to a straightforward question.
Stroppy, brittle and clearly not across the detail. Today the new Defence Secretary was found out.
Perhaps he should spend less time on his profile and more time getting on top of his brief?
The questions haven’t even got difficult yet.
Steve Webb retweeted
Not one of these people has ever had a real job, never invented anything, never exported anything, never run a business, never created any jobs...
A big Budget for economic growth. Decisive moves on energy, devolution and backing business. Proud to have worked with @JohnHealey_MP to deliver it.
Steve Webb retweeted
Bridget, telling lies is a breach of the Ministerial Code.
It's well known from your time as Education Secretary (before your demotion!) that you struggle with the truth.
As the then junior minister responsible for financial services regulation, I was not even remotely a 'co-author' of the mini budget. I did not see it until the night before.
I’m flattered that my decades of real-world business experience outside Westminster trigger so many Labour MPs. It’ll be useful when the next Conservative government has to clean up your mess!
(P.S. Mortgage rates are higher now than in 2022…)
Steve Webb retweeted
🚨NEW: A UK bank chief executive, reacting to John Healey's decision to raise the bank's profit surcharge said:
"Taxing the engines of growth to reduce VAT on gherkins is end-of-Rome level of stupidity"
[@FT]
Steve Webb retweeted
Kemi Badenoch absolutely nailed it in the Commons today. Under Labour, taxes are up, borrowing pressures are mounting, debt interest is swallowing billions, and families and businesses are paying the price. Labour simply cannot escape the consequences of its economic decisions:
Inflation: UP.
Government spending: UP.
Debt interest: UP.
Mortgage rates: UP.
Unemployment: UP.
Welfare spending: UP.
Under Labour, Britain is heading for the highest tax burden in its history and precious little growth. @KemiBadenoch exposed the sheer scale of Labour's economic failure, and the Government benches clearly didn't enjoy hearing it.
A brilliant performance. Watch this. 👇
Steve Webb retweeted
Why should a pensioner on a £13K income be exempt from income tax when a person of working age is not? Those of working age do not receive free travel or all sorts of other discounts to which pensioners are entitled. We do not exempt people from tax based on how many dependents they have, or how much housing in their area costs, so why exempt individuals based on age?
John Healey, the chancellor, is expected to announce a 3.9 per cent rise to the full state pension while protecting those on lower incomes from income tax thetimes.com/uk/politics/art…
Steve Webb retweeted
Another dumb dumb with MP after his name.
When you tax a business they raise their prices, so a tax on business is a tax on the consumer. This is school level economics.
We are ruled by useless morons.
Steve Webb retweeted
“Prices are determined by supply and demand.”
Cool story. Now explain what determines supply.
One thing that socialists fail to understand is that for supply to exist, someone has to commit capital, take on risk and they expect a sufficient return. That return is calculated AFTER tax my guy, just look at any P&L.
The mistake that Labour keeps making is that it thinks that incentives don’t matter - that entrepreneurs can take the risk and the government can take the rewards.
You raise taxes, they raise prices. If they can’t raise prices they don’t just say cool, no worries, they’ll cut investment, jobs, hold back wage increases - any combination of the three to drive profit. Whichever way you put it, it’s harmful.
Some bedtime reading on windfall taxes for you:
news.stv.tv/north/oil-firm-a…
Nope, that’s not how taxes and price works. The price is determined by demand and supply.
Companies charge the highest price they can given demand. A tax levied on *profits* does not affect a company’s cost ie supply.
Taxes on *windfall* profits (like oil and gas) are the most efficient kind of tax there is.
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Corporate profit taxes do not directly shift marginal costs but empirical studies show partial pass-through into higher consumer prices. Windfall taxes on oil and gas have deterred investment and production in practice despite theoretical efficiency on rents.
dadun.unav.edu/server/api/cor…
ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/scpwps…
taxfoundation.org/blog/big-oil-p…
scottishfinancialreview.com/2025/09/03/win…
Steve Webb retweeted
The PM is telling us to prepare for a national emergency: Russian attack, flooding, internet meltdown, gas shortages, cyberattack, etc. But don’t worry Burnham’s on Gogglebox. Has Britain ever had a less serious leader?
Steve Webb retweeted
Andy Burnham doesn’t have time to address the nation, or even comment, as his Government struggles to roll out a botched message about increased resilience and preparation for conflict, but he’s got time to make a laddish appearance on Gogglebox.
This lightweight celebrity is showing he’s more interested in his profile than the challenges Britain faces.
Steve Webb retweeted
Abusive scenes at PMQs as @LucyMPowell appears to mouth a racial slur I won't mention at @KemiBadenoch when the Tory Leader takes the piss out of the PM about loud music on trains