Goodbye HS2! Goodbye Trident!

We are not going to be a member of the EU for all that much longer. As a result the UK economy is going to suffer a negative impact. As is the norm in times like this government incomes are likely to fall at the time when expenditure is likely to rise. This will mean an extension to the austerity this government have been running for the last few years. And in my opinion it should also mean the end of some of the large projects they have been planning which have dubious return.

Or to put it another way, can all you politicos please cancel the HS2 and Trident programmes. Doing this will commit the UK government to £100billion less spending - and yes I know this is a figure that would have only grown so in truth it will save far more.

Now this will cause a few job losses in and of itself. I live near Derby, a city which would have seen some benefit from Trident as it is home to Rolls Royce and potential some through HS2 as it also has a large Bombardier presence. But I am not advocating a complete pull in the purse strings and don't spend any of this and to heck with anyone who loses their job.

But these overblown projects are just vast unnecessary money pits. In all the years since I first heard about HS2 I've seen argument after argument in favour of it flounder when analysed. And as for Trident... Well, we don't need Trident at all. After all if we are ever in a position to need to use it, the whole planet is screwed anyway. That really is pissing billions up against a wall spending.

Not spending all that money on these two projects will either result in our having £100billion less to find in tax revenue or borrowing or us having the money to spend on more targeted schemes to improve the lives of the people of these islands. We could certainly start to see some of the leave campaign's pledges, such as extra NHS spending, come to happen if we don't waste it on a never to be used nuclear arsenal or a train system that is already out of date before we start building it.

Yeah, that might be part of the point for me when it comes to the train thing. The tech is not pushing any boundaries. I think they would have had more luck in persuading me this project ha merits if it meant the UK had to develop a new form of train technology that we could then sell around the world. Then I might start to see some return on this enormous investment. But then, we probably would have paid the Japanese and Germans a small fortune to develop it for us and then watch them reap the benefits of selling on their super hot tech. (And if it had happened I would wish them well.)

Okay - I should stop now and I will. Hopefully the government will do likewise with their plans to finance these colossal white elephant projects.

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