I write this on the day after Rishi Sunak has been appointed Prime Minister.
For the past 50 days, we have all been watching open-mouthed as Ms Truss threw a wrecking ball through the British economy.
Speaking as someone outside politics who has not studied economics, it looked as if her belief was that all you needed to do to encourage ‘growth’ was to cut taxes for the rich and clear away annoying ‘red tape’ (which I discussed here).
Not surprisingly, her Chancellor’s ‘fiscal event’ caused instant devastation.
Truss unapologetic
However, at no time, save for a couple of half-hearted apologies when pressed in interviews, did Ms Truss seem to be at all sorry for the millions left facing unaffordable mortgages and debts as a result of her actions. ‘Sorry’ was not even mentioned in her leaving speech.
The only problem (she seemed to imply) was that her policies had not been introduced in the correct way.
Rather like those people who say that you can make yourself well by the power of thought alone, and that if you try and don’t get better, it’s because you’re not doing it properly.
Thankfully though, it looks as if others are taking a more sensible approach, and hopefully, Ms Truss and her Tufton Street colleagues will not be let anywhere near government again.
Another magic silver bullet failure
But Miss Truss is not alone in believing that simplistic answers, ‘magic silver bullets’, are the answer to complex problems.
I still remember the dot.com bubble back at the turn of the century when people believed that if you put your business online, you did not have to worry about normal marketing principles.
As we all now know, the bubble burst.
Who needs experts anyway?
It’s all part of a general idea among many people that expertise is unnecessary.
Easy answers are (we are told) magically available now for complex problems – all you need to do is believe and impose them forcefully.
Maybe it’s because it’s only if you actually know something about whatever-it-is that you appreciate the complexities of the subject and the problems involved in dealing with it. People don’t take into account things they don’t know
If you are genuinely unaware that fire burns, then putting your foot in it to put it out, may seem like a good idea.
Property magic
So what about the private rented sector? The subject of this blog?
Property is an acknowledged way of getting rich, and many people have earned a fortune through property investment.
Strangely though, they tend not to be those who simply attend a high-priced training course delivered by an unqualified trainer in a hotel room where they promise untold riches for following their advice.
Property investment, like any other investment, should follow proper research and a detailed study of the area you intend to invest in (see more on this here). Blind obedience to over-optimistic training will only ‘work’ if you are lucky.
And one day, your luck may run out.
Or, like Ms Truss, your project may hit the buffers immediately.
I was somewhat surprised by Rishi Sunak’s re-appointment of Michael Gove as Housing Secretary late yesterday. After all, it’s just three months ago that he was fired by Boris Johnson and he announced plans to quit politics. But I’m pleased he’s back, because he seemed to be a man on a mission last time around.
Michael Gove returns to cabinet as the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary, the same post he was in before. The move comes after the new prime minister; Rishi Sunak stressed his commitment to the troubled levelling up agenda.
Gove replaces Simon Clarke, who resigned yesterday after just seven weeks in the job.
And he replaced Greg Clark, who was there for an even shorter time.
Timothy Douglas, head of policy and campaigns at Propertymark welcomed Gove’s return. He said: “The Levelling Up agenda and reforms to the private rented sector in England would appear to be back and will take centre stage in the new government as Michael Gove returns to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Mr Gove previously focussed on regional disparities and fixing the cladding scandal, but he now needs to go further and tackle the supply crisis in the private rented sector, implement the next steps for leasehold reform, set out the UK government’s plans for home buying and selling as well engage with the sector to get more people onto the housing ladder and stimulate right sizing to release large, family homes.”
The British Property Federation has also reacted to Gove’s appointment as Secretary of State at DLUHC. Melanie Leech, chief executive, said: “Michael Gove will be able to hit the ground running and we look forward to working with him again. The property industry is a critical partner on levelling-up and by unlocking investment we can deliver the changes we need to see in our communities up and down the country.
This summer we lost vital time on delivering on the Government’s agenda and urgently need a consistent and steady hand on the key issues of the day – housing supply, regeneration and net zero – which are all critical to the UK’s growth ambitions and international competitiveness.”
From my point of view, I think the re-appointment of Michael Gove is a good thing. He knows what needs to be done and if he restarts his ‘man on a mission’ activities, long-awaited leasehold reforms and the regulation of property agents could be seen sooner rather than later.
She was used as a scapegoat. It’s the pension funds who colossally messed up.
Low tax and low regulation has historically always led to a strong economy and, incidentally, higher tax revenues for the government to spend on welfare etc.
Shame more people don’t have a good enough education to know this. Should be common knowledge.
Even the moneymakers in the city panicked over what was, in the end, the proven path to prosperity.
Also, the answer to the current inflation problem is supply side reform – as she said – to fix the disaster of lockdowns which greatly diminished supply, which inevitably leads to prices going up.
The other crucial part of the equation is to fix energy prices by increasing energy supply – which she also planned to do (and no, it can’t currently be done with wind turbines, we have no choice but to increase gas production).
High energy prices lead to high everything prices and, if not fixed, ultimately lead to shortages of things. Energy is needed to manufacture anything and everything. And prices were skyrocketing before Russia did anything to Ukraine.