Offering the Young a Good Deal

Offering the Young a Good Deal

  • Softening overall fiscal plans would be ill-advised. Yet there is scope to re-gear the Government’s priorities towards more intergenerational fairness.
  • Labour would have added at least an extra £150bn to UK debt over 5 years. Younger people would be burdened yet this was not given adequate attention.
  • Conservatives should highlight their achievements on social issues, such as the Modern Slavery Bill and reforms to stop and search.
  • Labour’s pledge on tuition fees was elitist, asking non-graduates to subsidise graduates who on average earn £9.5k more per year. The policy’s cost would be equivalent to 2.8 percentage points on the basic rate of income tax.
  • The Conservatives need credible alternatives to Labour’s spending commitments.
  • The Government’s Housing White Paper was a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t go far enough for young families waiting to get on the housing ladder.
  • There is now a pressing need for the creation of an Office of Intergenerational Responsibility to assess the impact of legislation across the generations.
  • The Conservative Party needs to spell out the consumer benefits arising from leaving the EU.

Daniel Mahoney - Wednesday, 21st June, 2017