POLITICAL BRIBES ABOUND.

With the General Election campaigns getting into full swing, the 3 main parties are busy trying to buy our votes.

The Conservatives have made noises about immigration numbers and most recently, have issued a promise to 'cap' energy prices. Labour are offering to shell out loads of money on higher wages and benefits, and more spending on public services, while increasing taxes for what they call 'the rich' and the Liberal Democrats keep banging on about 'Brexit' and how unfair it all is.

This is all 'par for the course' and is the usual meaningless rhetoric that is trotted out at every election. Labour knows it can promise anything it can dream up as it has no chance of winning and the same goes for the Liberal Democrats. Both would be disastrous for the country anyway, with utter confusion over our relationship with the European Union and / or economic meltdown.

However, the Conservatives are treading on thin ice with their promises on immigration and energy prices. They will win the election, at least that's what the opinion polls strongly  predict, so they will have to act on their pledges. Having failed to have any effect on immigration over the last 7 years, it seems most unlikely that they will be able to make any real progress in the next 5, thus making the whole matter a hostage to fortune. Regarding energy prices, imposing a statutory control over these smacks of the type of price control beloved of Socialists and that was imposed by Labour in the 1960s and 1970s. It may also be a wholly unproductive policy, leading the energy suppliers to increase all of their uncontrolled prices in order to make up the shortfall resulting from the controls on their standard tariffs. Just as the regulation of railway prices has had unforeseen consequences, so would the regulation of energy prices and, while some would see their costs capped, others would see them rise dramatically.

Wouldn't it be nice if our political parties could be honest with the electorate for a change and not simply use our money to try to bribe us to vote for them.