In a few days’ time, we’ll all be trooping off to our local polling station to cast our votes in the first General Election since the Covid-19 pandemic. Much has changed in the world since then, but the issues relating to balancing the country’s books remain largely unchanged.

Over the past few weeks, you have listened to politicians telling you what they are going to do for you if you vote them into power. But they all speak with a one-sided slant to persuade you to listen to their point of view, without ever explaining the rules of simple economics. If you decide you want to spend more, you have to increase your income or borrow the money to match the additional expenditure. If you haven’t got it, you don’t spend it. We all understand that from balancing our household budgets.

None of them seem to have mastered the art of plain-speaking

So why can’t the politicians understand it too? Or maybe they do, but don’t want to share it with us because that’s the bad news effect of the good news they are trying to make us concentrate on in order to secure our vote? It doesn’t help that none of them seem to have mastered the art of plain-speaking in a way that most members of the general public would understand.

I would love to have hosted one of those TV debates for the party leaders, armed with an old-fashioned set of weighing scales. Every time they mentioned spending more money on whatever service it is, I would add that cost to the expenditure side and ask how the scales were to be rebalanced. Cuts to other costs or raising income by higher taxes (or borrowing) would be the only ways to do it, but they wouldn’t want to say that because it’s not vote-winning language.

Don’t be fooled by any of our politicians. Some of them don’t even understand economics – others are scared to tell us the truth about the cost of balancing the books to achieve the promises they are making to us.

Not a great way to go into a vote on 4th July, is it?