VAT increase inevitable?

[Martin Cassini]

Treasury Chief secretary, Danny Alexander, claims the VAT rise is ‘unavoidable’. If ignorance (of the potential for kind cuts in traffic system reform) is no excuse, there is no excuse for the increase, or for many of the cuts that would be unnecessary given the introduction of FiT Roads. I’ve emailed ministers including George Osborne, Philip Hammond, Lynne Featherstone, Vince Cable. The only reply has come from Norman Baker (Roads) via the DfT. Showing no appreciation of FiT reforms, it rehearses the tired old arguments for traffic control. Most of the media don’t want to know either. So far, the only one to publish arguments for constructive cuts in traffic control is the Institute of Economic Affairs (http://www.iea.org.uk/record.jsp?type=economicAffairs&ID=344 sample article). For the record, I've emailed Alexander (again).