‘What they did not envisage was the greed of Gordon Brown, who set in train powers to take even more money out of our pockets by stealth’

I BEGIN to wonder how many more ways this Government can take our hard-earned money from us and how much more they are going to squander.

Much has been said by other correspondents about last week’s Budget, so I would like to look at their record over a longer period of time.

They were very fortunate when they came to power in 1997 as the Tories had managed our financial affairs extremely well.

I recall spending a couple of “away days” prior to that election with all the leading civil servants of the day who explained how much money the Treasury coffers contained.

On behalf of each of their departments they presented two outline Budgets, one for each for each political party. As you can imagine the Tory one envisaged tax cuts and the one for Labour increased spend on public services.

They also opined that whoever took power would have at least 10 years of prosperity before having to face financial difficulties.

Their predictions were right in this and the nature of spending by New Labour. What they did not envisage was the greed of Gordon Brown, who set in train powers to take even more money out of our pockets by stealth.

I have written at length about the detrimental changes he made to private pension funds, but there were many other provisions hidden away within his Budgets which have cost us dearly.

He may not be the first Chancellor to post-date bad news, but he raised this cynical practice to a higher level altogether.

Mr Darling has continued in his wake as exampled by the delay in higher duties on petrol and vehicle excise licences.

Putting this on one side, what has Labour achieved in 10 years by excessive spending on the public services and putting us in debt to the international institutions? Overall, precious little.

They promised us a fully integrated transport policy, creating a substantial department under the leadership of John Prescott. Yet their vision to provide efficient and cost-effective public transport has come to nothing. Our roads are snarled up and there are huge delays on the railways, whose cost has spiralled out of control.

Bren and I can both fly to Nice and return cheaper than I can make a single rail journey to London. It’s absolute madness.

The closure of “non-commercial” rail and bus links from outlying communities and abandoning rural post offices has brought hardship to thousands.

Taxing vehicle owners off the planet and reintroducing congestion charges has added to the burden and contributed to the isolation of many thousands of low earners.

Unprecedented money has been spent on the Health Service. Doctor’s wages have doubled and in some cases tripled under New Labour. New hospitals have been built, with private funding which will take decades to pay off. But how much has the service improved?

GPs now work banking hours, you have to plead for a home visit and the “helpline” they created to screen calls has been a failure.

You have to queue up to get on the books of a dentist whose services you have to pay for, even if you don’t go private. However, you can now receive counselling for every conceivable condition under the sun.

We are told that some of the educational standards have improved, which should not surprise us bearing in mind the amount of money which has been pumped into the system. Yet, we are still close to the bottom of the European league for excellence.

Law and order has been another area of substantial investment; with what result? They claim crime is reducing, but there is very little evidence of this in our everyday lives.

Loutish behaviour goes unpunished. Burglars are aware that if the tenants of the homes they violate strike back it is they who will be prosecuted. Ordinary citizens are fearful of a violent reaction if they tackle criminals on the streets.

The police service complains it is so hidebound in bureaucracy it cannot cope. The courts say they are mowed out with work. Prisons are full to overflowing so criminals are released before serving their full sentence.

Illegal immigration is so out of hand they have no idea how many people have entered this country.

The list goes on.

No business would survive with such a record. But that will never happen to governments, who will just take more and more tax from their citizens.

They blame the downturn in the world’s economy for the current financial difficulties; but they knew it was coming and did nothing about it.

They claim much of the tax they levy is in support of the environment. They are duplicitous. They tax us to pay for their mistakes and if we re-elect they will continue to do so. It is time for a change.