Not for turning
The Chequers offer is already so over-generous it has triggered Cabinet resignations and Tory mutiny.
If Barnier now wants to make it work for fear of a No Deal, it is a signal for us to realise the EU is on the back foot and to extract more concessions.
Mrs May must not give an inch over free movement or anything else. Nor commit a penny of our divorce bill without tying it to a decent deal.
It would be fatal for her. Chequers looks almost dead as it is. Even if Barnier breathes life into it, many Tories are still vowing to vote it down.
Take axe to tax
IT’S easy to dismiss Boris Johnson’s call for tax cuts as a ruse to distract from his personal difficulties. But he is right.
The PM and her wet-blanket Chancellor have swallowed the group think about imposing new taxes to fund the NHS.
Not only is it wrong, it plays into Corbyn’s hands. What’s the difference, voters will wonder, between Labour and the Tories if both will raise my tax?
The overall burden is at a 30-year high. We should cut income tax, capital gains tax and stamp duty. It is a sure way to boost growth. Bizarrely, it can sometimes increase the sums raised.
Donald Trump’s cuts to tax and regulation put rocket-boosters under US growth. We should do the same — and put more money in pockets . . .
Not drain more life out of the economy.
Votes: fair’s fair
PARLIAMENT’S seats must be reformed to make elections fairer. The logic is unassailable. MPs must not reject it out of self-interest.
It’s not a plot by the independent Boundary Commission against Brexiters. Nor is it against Labour, who routinely end up with more MPs than they deserve because they need fewer votes to win safe seats than the Tories.
Each vote must carry the same weight.
So boundaries must change and constituencies must be evened up, regardless of the upheaval — or the senior politicians inconvenienced. It would have been done years ago had the Lib Dems not ratted on a deal in Coalition.
Reducing the number of MPs makes sense too, not least to save taxpayers money. Outside China, North Korea and Brussels, the Commons is the world’s second-biggest legislature.
The first? The absurdly bloated House of Lords. Take the scythe to that next.
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