Morale low, and prices high, in Britain

Press, 21 December 1976, Page 27

Morale low, and prices high, in Britain

From JOHN ROSS. London correspondent They have been virtually queueing up at New Zealand House this week anxious to get out of Britain before she sinks even further into the economic abyss. “The plunging pound, major strikes, wintry weather, and finally Wednesday’s mini-budget — all resulted in increased inquiries about immigration,” said the chief migration officer at the *Jew Zealand High Commission in London (Mr E. J. Rae). New Zealanders who complain about “whinging poms” would find a great deal of whinging going on in England itself these days. “There’s no future here” — “Britain is finished” — “Nobody cares any more,” are frequent comments from the man in the street. In November last year, 1569 people inquired about emigrating to New Zealand. Last month, the total was 2566. Underlying much of the uncertainty is a fear that, sooner or later, the British Government’s indecisive attitude to the economy will catch up with it, and that everyone will suffer severely as a result. The pro-Labour “Daily Mirror,” in a frontpage comment on the Budget, complained bitterly that it had not been tough enough. Britons, said the “Mirror,” did not want to be cheered up. They wanted to “take the medicine like adults, and get it over with.” To an alarming degree, a new motto: “I couldn’t

care less,” seems to have replaced the traditional British virtues of hard work and conscientiousness.

Even the morning newspaper, as regular a feature of daily life in London as the chimes of Big Ben, has often failed to appear recently. In the last few weeks/ the mass-circula-tion “Sun” has lost almost I IM copies through industrial disputes. Continually soaring food prices are a main cause for concern, but these may only be a symptom of the “British disease.” A former governor of the Bank of England, Lord Cromer, has said that if Britain does not produce the goods to meet its bills, food rationing may be the next step. By New Zealand standards, British food prices are high. Between now and January 1, 1978, when Britain has to bring her food prices into line with other E.E.C. countries, they will increase even more dramatically. Many people will be unable to afford even such basic necessities as butter. Two years ago, a pound of butter in Britain cost 38c. Now it is 91c,. Next year, it will be 51.19, and by 1978 it is expected to cost $1.83. Cheese will be about the same price, and even potatoes, which will be in very short supply next year, threaten to slip into the luxury category. Surprisingly, Britain is still, the cheapest country in Europe for food and many consumer goods, but wages are lower and taxes high. The average gross

weekly wage, based on 1975 figures, was $2lO in Denmark, $132 in France, $174 in West Germany, $l5O in the Netherlands, $196 in Norwav. and $ll9 in Britain. On a gross salary of $10,980 for example, the tax rate in France is 8 per cent, in West Germany 21 per cent, the Netherlands 26 per cent, Italy 15 per cent, Sweden 34 per cent, Switzerland 9 to 15 per cent, and in Britain 27 per cent. Milk, now 17c a pint, will rise to 19c next month: bread, at 38c a large loaf, will rise; potatoes. up to 24c a ib, now, will rise to about 37c next year; eggs are 93c a dozen (large); and New Zealand lamb about $1.46 per lb for leg. The British housewife watches these increases knowing that her husband’s pay packet is not increasing at anything like a similar rate. The voluntary pay policy means that wage rises this year are limited to 5 per cent, and rumour has it that the Government is thinking in terms of a 3 per cent limit for 1978. A big contributing factor to increased prices has been thp decreasing value of sterling. Britain imports about 50 per cent of her food, and it is estimated that a 10 per cent drop in the value of the pound results in food prices going up 3 per cent. Although the average gross wage is $l3l, 7.5 M people — about a third of the work-force — earn less than $91.50 a week. Many of them survive only because both partners are working. Food prices, however, are only symptomatic of a more serious disease in Britain. The British Institute of Management in a survey last year said that only four out of 186 factories delivered their goods on time, and five delivered nothing on or before the promised delivery date. Coal prices are about to rise by at least $12.80 a ton because production is dropping — in spite of the installation of new equipment worth $366M in the last two years. A security guard who catches too many workers on the fiddle loses his job, and a tradesman who speeds up a machine to make it more productive is ostracised by his colleagues. Extended tea breaks and excessive absenteeism, merely because of a lack of supervision, mean that big British construction jobs take almost twice as long as similar projects in Europe and North America. The economist. Dr Milton Friedman, winner of the Nobel Prize, says that Britain if heading for economic i-.in and political disaster unless sweeping reforms are started immediately. He does not believe the average British worker is inherently lazy. “If you pay a man to be lazy, he’ll be lazy,” he says. “If you pay him to be energetic, he’ll be energetic.” In Britain, people were paid for not working very hard, and these people were as well off as those who did work hard.

“If he earns a little more, if he’s hard working. that's taken away from him in taxes, What incentive is there for a man in Britain to be hard working?” said Dr Friedman. London this Christmas is not all gloom ‘ and doom, however. The British may have lost the will to work, but they are still pretty civil to their fellow men.' Anyone who tried to end it all by running in front of a London doubledecker would probably hear the squeal of breakes and see a smiling driver beckon him across the road.