The UK is broke(n) – can it be fixed?

Maybe - if Refom gets orgainsed

The latest talking point amongst politicians and the MSM chattering classes is an answer to the question “is Britain broken?”

The question is asked in the present tense and avoids the more obvious question “Is Britain broke?”

The answer to that last question is “YES”.

It should be undeniable, but there are still those dancing on th head of a pin consisting of 3 TRILLION POUNDS of national debt, costing around 150 BILLION POUDS A YEAR IN INTEREST.

The US is also broke but is doing something about it (40 Trillion of debt costing a few trillion a year. The EU is also in a debt spiral (Germany thinks it can spend its way to growth with half a TRILLON euros of taxpayer funds /borrowing, Japan has long past its “event horizon” of unsustainable debt – China is heading th same way with its “forget profit just produce” dogma.

The interest on public debt represents the starting fiscal deficit of each country – from which the excess of spending over revenue (from state health, education, benefit and pensions spending) must BE ADDED.

What must also be added is NATO defence spending which is slated for 5 per cent of GDP by 2035 – a doubling of defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP is equivalent to approximately another £150 BILLION (15 per cent)of all (one trillion pounds)of taxes collected in 2035.

The UK STARTS 2035 with a deficit BEFOR health and welfare spending etc, of around 300 BILLION pounds or 10 per cent of GDP.

The way out of this predicament is to PAY DOWN DEBT. This can ONLY be done by running FISCAL SURPLUSES FOR DECADES and this ca only be done by cutting government spending by at least 20 per cent per annum.

It will take politician with cahunas and a steadfast realization that THIS MUST BE DONE in order TO FIX BRITAIN. Uniparty leaders have no cahunas – Farage – maybe – provided he can organise his party behind this common goal.

No political party has come up with exactly how the defence budget can be funded – a doubling to 5 per cent of GDP – 150 billion from 60 billion is “non-trivial”. Personally it is my belief that it is not the money – it is the capability of the military that matters – potency. The 5 per cent spending is a nonsense – it should be that amount that can be afforded with weaponry tailored to fit. Maybe the amount is 50 billion – maybe it is 20 billion pounds it is certainly NOT an arbitrary150 billion pounds.

Which brings us to the “soon to be announced” Labour government “U-turn” that restores the relief to businesses granted during the C19 scamdemic.

Make no bones about it the C19 business rates relief was the infamous “Black hole” claimed by “Rachel from Accounts” . the “poison pill” left by the previous government that was plugged with £60 billion hikes in taxes (especially employers national insurance) detailed in Labour’s first ad second budgets in 2024 and 2025. The relief was unnecessary, ill-thought out and profligate (typical of the uniparty).

Rachel should have spelled this out I July 2024, but either didn’t rase this or chose to ignore it.

Maybe there is time for a “mea culpa”, probably not. Instead the narrative is “we are listening to the plight of the pubs – but not restaurants, cafes, hairdressers and the entertainment industry in general or all similar industries – like supermarkets or the National Health system.

If Rachel grants business rates relief to pubs, why not every other employer?

To balance the books, Rachel should not act to relieve pubs – or anyone else- and she should do “other things” to promote her much vaunted goal of “restoring economic growth.

Labour has “faltering” plans t o build a million homes (mostly for immigrants) and has identified major infrastructure projects such a extra airport runways and HS2, ad nuclear reactors. These projects will generate short term growth and may have lingering impacts on long term growth. They will generate (permanent, structural?) inflation.

The real challenge lies in the complete and utter destruction of the UK’s potential for economic growth via “net zero” policies. These have to be scrapped immediately – they are subtracting 2-3 per cent growth per annum BY DESIGN – and which will cost NINE-TEN TRILLION POUNDS over the next 25 years to 2050.

The latest ludicrous and self-destructive step is to shut down a UK steel plant and sell it to a “green” Chinse steel producer. Th deal to provide a loan of £2.5 billion has not been signed but, so far but “… As of January 9, 2026, the UK government had provided approximately £274 million in working capital to keep the Scunthorpe plant operational, covering raw materials, salaries, and unpaid bills” since it “nationalised” British Steel on April 12, 2025.

Which brings us to competing policies from UK’s Reform Party.

Reform is attempting to maintain the momentum it has attracted in the last year or so that has led to it becoming the UK’s biggest party.

From Brave AI:

“Reform UK has the highest membership with 268,000 members as of December 2025.
Labour Party follows closely with approximately 250,000 members (as of December 2025), making it the second-largest party by membership.
The Green Party of England and Wales has 184,000 members (as of December 2025), reflecting a significant surge since 2025.
The Conservative Party has 123,000 members (as of July 2025), a notable decline from previous decades.
The Liberal Democrats have 60,000 members (as of December 2024).
The Scottish National Party (SNP) has 56,011 members (as of June 2025).

A good start but Reform lacks the transparent structure that follows the strategy that will lead to a 2029 (or sooner) win in the next general election.

Reform desperately needs an organizational structure that has policies for each government department and QANGO to be organised in a matrix by region ad coordinated to develop overarching policies that ALL of its members can identify with.

In short, either Reform gets its act together or it will fade into the same relevance as the hula hoop. I suggest a member based shadow cabinet with membership elections up to (shadow) secretary of State level plus 2-3 deputies and lots of debate and challenge.

Leading lights and spokesmen of the Reform Party cannot be left to ex-uniparty politicians. There is to much unharnessed talent available to the Party across the country.

Whether Reform has the “nous” and the cahunas to address the defence and debt problems represents “two tall hills to die on”.

Miliband is dead man walking o his “net zero” hill and that will release 2-3 per cent of GDP once it has been abolished entirely – though essential maintenance of the North Sea and rotten gas transmission pipelines already requires “emergency surgery”.

Plans for housebuilding must go ahead- there is a housing crisis. What are Reform’s plans?

Defence spending needs a value for money “potency test – IMMEDIATELY.

The national debt MUST BE REDUCED BY AT LEAST 1 TRILLION POUNDS IN THE NEXT 5-10 YEARS.

These policies can fix Britain – the uniparty (Labour/LibDems/Tories) cannot do this.

The “greens” will make this far worse.

Onwards!

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