Giving handouts to the rich is a fiscal and moral outrage, writes Prof Alan Walker; plus letters from Howard Fielding, Ivor Morgan, Richard Heller, Helen Briggs, John Platt, Jeffrey Borinsky and the parent of a City worker
Kwasi Kwarteng and Liz Truss’s mini-budget is a fiscal and moral outrage, because it ignores the extensive negative evidence from previous attempts to boost growth by giving handouts to the rich (Kwarteng accused of reckless mini-budget for the rich as pound plummets, 23 September). It is also a constitutional outrage. Apart from a very small group of relatively rich people, no one voted for this radical policy change. Hopefully the British public will recognise this as a reckless gamble aimed at bolstering Truss’s election prospects. Recent history shows, however, that the public cannot necessarily be relied upon to make wise political decisions, so our outrage must be transformed into practical action to persuade voters that there is a viable, socially just alternative to this morally bankrupt government.
Prof Alan Walker
University of Sheffield
• Let’s not get too envious of the very wealthy who were so cosseted in Friday’s fiscal event. The reaction of the stock market was a 2% loss on the day (Pound falls below $1.09 for first time since 1985 following mini-budget, 23 September). Most of the rich will have some of their millions invested in stocks and shares. So they lost £20,000 of each million. I wonder how grateful they are for the chancellor’s reckless gamble?
Howard Fielding
London
