- Thu Mar 12, 2026 12:54 pm
#107602
The career railwayman who represents Didcot and Wantage is Olly Glover, but I had to look him up. He could do a decent job for them on his specialism.
I hadn't heard of Mike Martin. He's one you'd think could have been put to work as the Defence spokesman, but I see he's on the Defence Select Committee. Seems like they're missing a trick there. He thinks Defence spending should rise to 3% ASAP, so perhaps that would create an impression they don't want to give of tax rises.
I expect when the manifesto comes out in the next election, Davey will pull some tax rise rabbits out of hats. The trouble with these is that governments have usually thought of them and rejected them as a source of easy money. They can be good politics though, helping you balance (at least on a spreadsheet) spending with taxes. They did that in the last election with capital gains tax reform (extra £5.2bn raised). Have you heard them mention that since? I haven't. Which makes me think they didn't really mean it.
I hadn't heard of Mike Martin. He's one you'd think could have been put to work as the Defence spokesman, but I see he's on the Defence Select Committee. Seems like they're missing a trick there. He thinks Defence spending should rise to 3% ASAP, so perhaps that would create an impression they don't want to give of tax rises.
I expect when the manifesto comes out in the next election, Davey will pull some tax rise rabbits out of hats. The trouble with these is that governments have usually thought of them and rejected them as a source of easy money. They can be good politics though, helping you balance (at least on a spreadsheet) spending with taxes. They did that in the last election with capital gains tax reform (extra £5.2bn raised). Have you heard them mention that since? I haven't. Which makes me think they didn't really mean it.

- By davidjay