Lube up and bend over taxpayers of Northern European and take your shafting

[shaunbhoy]

i think a lot of town centres are struggling to compete with the out of town shopping centres so it does not neccesarily mean that people are spending less but they are spending it in a different place.....

but I have no evidence to back that up

If they start taxing Charity Shops properly then that budget deficit will soon be cleared. They are everywhere!!

[original PM]

i think a lot of town centres are struggling to compete with the out of town shopping centres so it does not neccesarily mean that people are spending less but they are spending it in a different place.....

but I have no evidence to back that up

[minestrone]

They should be trying to get these closed shops turned into small business offices, at least get the places occupied.

[PAH]

You say that like it is a bad thing. Lots of gravy-trained freeloaders doing nothing jobs at the taxpayers expense. Lay them all off and rehire for those positions where we actually notice.

Those are not the cuts I'm on about. The cuts you'll notice are the ones to services not only staff.

It'll be easier for them to reduce services, such as closing libraries, reduce repairs to roads and infrastructure, than pay out redundancy to those in non-jobs.

[BlasterBates]

nope your not imagining it, when I came back to the UK for a weekend I was amazed how few people were in the town centre shopping on Saturday. Arcades now full of shut shops.

[TimberWolf]

I'm seeing more and more closed and boarded up shops, even on nice shopping streets, though to be fair usually I'm not looking, so this may be normal.

[shaunbhoy]

a sign of worse things to come as cuts in public services

You say that like it is a bad thing. Lots of gravy-trained freeloaders doing nothing jobs at the taxpayers expense. Lay them all off and rehire for those positions where we actually notice.

[PAH]

The UK has been in decline since the second world war. "If the empire lasts a thousand years...", it barely lasted 5.

If you want to see what your town will look like someday soon, take a day trip to one of the seaside resorts that were once booming tourist attractions. Blackpool, Skegness, Clacton,... the list goes on.

The boarded up shop fronts and decaying infrastructure is what you may already be seeing closer to home and a sign of worse things to come as cuts in public services, decline in residual wealth, and dilution of the british enterprise continues.

I'm sure it will turn out alright though when we are all on minimum wage (in real terms) with houses still costing north of ~150k.

[sasguru]

In retrospect the UK hasn't paid its way in the world probably since the 60s. We can hardly blame the EU for this or our current self-inflicted problems.

[geoff from contracta IOM]

I think Europe could safely be described as a failed fiscal experiment largely at the expense of the UK and other ( once ) wealthy nations

[TimberWolf]

When's the next one due to join? The free market can't resist all that lovely cheap labour.

[xoggoth]

Bet it won't be as much fun as that.

[sasguru]

Your leaders have decided you shall subsidise the feckless southern states and so you shall.
Unless the invisible hand of the free market saves you.