Goodbye Austerity, Hello Growth

France and Greece have voted against Austerity. Britain has voted against Austerity. We need a new Coalition Chancellor of the Exchequer at the Treasury with a new plan. It needs to be someone who has had a proper job outside politics. It needs to be someone who can work a calculator and communicate with the people. It needs to be the economist and Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable.

A 5 Step Plan for ending Austerity

1. Create a million dole entrepreneurs and boost growth by 0.5% - Cost neutral.
2. Put a million solar panels on a million rooftops. Create 3 Gigawatts of free renewal energy, create 100,000 jobs. - Cost £5 billion. Boost Growth by 1%
3. Scrap Employment Law changes - promote job security and boost growth by 0.5% - Cost neutral.
4. Sell £100bn of Government Assets in London & move Jobs and Government offices out of London. Boost Growth by 0.5% - save £110bn. 
5. A New Plan for the Banks - keep asset sheets as they are, force nationally owned banks to lend to UK Businesses. Boost growth by 1.0%

It is vital that a credible deficit reduction programme is continued at the same time as a prosperity programme which will deliver higher tax revenues and create a spiral of growth rather than the current downward spiral.

Both coalition parties would agree that structural reforms are necessary to remove the limits to growth, they just disagree about what laws to scrap. The Tories want a bonfire of our safety and employment laws, Liberal Democrats know that job security underpins consumer confidence and consumer spending. Nonetheless some minor reforms to streamline red tape might help but only if done by those who know what to scrap and what to keep. Safety Investment helps the UK economy save £30bn a year, imagine a Buncefield every year.

At the moment the Coalition is making the wrong call in it's 50:50 choices - with Posh Toffs in charge - the wrong people are getting taxed and cut, but the good news is that it is still fixable and there are groups of Liberal Democrats  and Conservatives who would back a entrepreneurial, green growth and anti-bank , regional and anti-bank agenda for growth - if Cameron and Clegg have the guts to make the right choices.