The Curse of Rising National Debt

Rishi's "Free Furlough" Billions 

Just a Giant Payday Loan in YOUR Name 

Peter Hitchens
Mail on Sunday

Think of Chancellor Rishi Sunak as a smiling salesman of payday loans, and you will begin to get the picture.   ‘Yes, of course you can have the money. Happy to help!’ he says as he hands over the wads of notes.

But it will not be the cheery face of Mr Sunak that you see when the time comes for repayment, but the hard and relentless agents of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

We cannot know the exact details of what lies ahead, though I would not rule out a sudden raid on savings as well as severe local and national taxation, direct and indirect, and inflation of the currency.

And don’t think that the repayment boys will only be going after those who have accepted the various forms of government handout during the throttling of the economy.   Even if you have yourself kept working and stayed above water, they’ll still be after you.

It is time the media began to ask Mr Sunak exactly when he plans to announce his first emergency budget (the first of many, I fancy) to a stunned nation.  As my much-esteemed Daily Mail colleague Alex Brummer, a man who understands the national finances better than most, said last week: ‘The hugely expensive decision to turn an emergency measure, designed to see UK Plc through the peak of Covid-19, into a commitment that could stretch to six months suggests a public health crisis and economic meltdown far worse than first imagined.’