We should focus on housing

Amber Rudd MP, as with all politicians, enthusiastically promotes the tripartite party line: “Infrastructure spending/HS1/by-passes/housing/immigration boosts GDP and the local economy”. Really? All these merely boost ‘man-made’ C02 emissions, pollution and energy consumption with greater demands on overstretched services, and destroys our diminishing countryside in both its making and its daily running. And at the time when governments are committed to minimising ‘man-made’ influences by raising ‘green’ taxes - again. Brilliant!

New infrastructure benefits are historically short-lived and very heavily reliant on taxation from income or spending. The UK’s available tax reserves are lessened by the collapsing Eurozone and from buying ever cheaper imports (import tariffs go to the EU, not Britain!) over British goods, made ever more costly through yet more government imposition of higher minimum wages, staff overheads (around 20% on top of wages), legislation and compliances, all of which raise costs, reduce demand and strangle the economy - rather defeating the object!

If Amber truly believes in boosting our local economy, then she can forget about the twice daily commuter-fed HS1 (which only boosts London’s economy) and concentrate on regulated maximum 2-1/2 times mortgages to force national house prices back down to affordable levels, and to stop building yet more unneeded and crowded speculative ‘mansions’ in and around Rye.

The greatest boost to the local economy comes from working and shopping locally, not from buying off the internet to boost Swindon’s warehouse economy of cheap imported goods. By buying British and locally-made goods, we support our fellow workers and neighbours who in turn (will hopefully!) support our local shops and businesses! Its common sense! And by God, Britain needs common sense politicians!

Barry M Jones,

Bixley Lane, Beckley