The extent to which the income of voters is derived directly from government.
New Labour’s payroll vote
“Parts Of The UK Are As Dependent On The State As Some Soviet Bloc Countries Were At The Time Communism Collapsed.”
- David Smith, Sunday Times.
Smith’s article was based on a report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) which showed that the majority of the GDP in NE England, Wales, Scotland and N Ireland was accounted for by state activity. Much of this state expenditure is explained by welfare payments but much is also due to an explosive growth in public employment. Some estimates suggest that 500,000 employees have been added to the public payroll since 1997. Others suggest that government is fatter by 750,000 jobs.
This growth in employment is only one way in which Gordon Brown has added to the number of people who have a vested interest in the continuation of higher and higher government spending.
The other route to a supplicant state is the increase in means-tested and other octopus-like benefits.
The welfare dependents
Dr David Green of Civitas has written about the growing number of people who receive state welfare:
“In 1951, less than four per cent of the population received national assistance or unemployment benefit. In 1971, it was still only eight per cent. In 2004, the proportion of the working-age population dependent on key benefits was 18 per cent. According to the Government's Family Resources Survey, 30 per cent of households received half or more of their income from the state in 2002-03. Among households over pension age, the proportion was 60 per cent. The real story is that we have taken huge strides on the road to becoming a nation of supplicants.”
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All estimates suggest that average private sector productivity is greater than public sector productivity. A bloated (supplicant) state can cripple a country’s economic sustainability, therefore.
SEE THIS RELATED LEADING ARTICLE IN 'THE BUSINESS'.
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