来源：《每日电讯报》
日期：2021年1月30日
The Government will soon face the task of repairing the vast damage done to the economy and the public finances by repeated lockdowns. Despite the irresponsible claims of some Left-leaning economists, continued debt-fuelled spending is unsustainable and it is encouraging that senior figures in the Government are aware of this.
政府将很快面临修复因多次封锁而对经济和公共财政造成的巨大损害的任务。尽管一些左倾经济学家提出了不负责任的说法，但债务推动的持续支出是不可持续的，令人鼓舞的是，政府高层人士认识到了这一点。
In an interview with this newspaper, the Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, says that we “are not going to be able to spend our way to prosperity… Great public services rely on a thriving, dynamic open economy”.
在接受本报采访时，英国商务大臣夸滕表示，我们“无法通过花钱来实现繁荣……伟大的公共服务依赖于一个繁荣、有活力的开放经济”。
In the middle of an emergency, it is understandable that the Government judged it necessary to abandon fiscal caution and spend hundreds of billions of pounds on supporting an economy that it had forcibly closed. Yet even before the pandemic there were signs that the Conservatives had retreated from their past faith in sound finances. A false perception that “levelling up” could only be achieved via an expansion of the state had gained ground over more traditional Thatcherite views of the economy. The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has been one of the few voices in the party arguing for a return to fiscal restraint, and soon.
在紧急情况下，政府认为有必要放弃财政谨慎，花费数千亿英镑来支撑它强行关闭的经济，这是可以理解的。然而，即使在新冠大流行之前，就有迹象表明保守党已经不再像过去那样对稳健财政有信心。一种错误的观念认为，只有通过扩大政府规模才能实现“均衡发展”，这种观念已经压倒了更为传统的撒切尔主义对经济的看法。财政大臣苏纳克一直是保守党党内主张尽快恢复财政紧缩的少数声音之一。
There is a political dimension to this, too. Mr Sunak is said to have suggested that hard work in the earlier years of this Parliament would create space for tax cuts closer to the election. The voters have shown, time and again, that they will reward parties that are honest about the public finances and punish those that are reckless. It is possible that strong economic growth after lockdown is lifted will help to close the deficit, without the need for large-scale spending cuts or tax rises. However, that is far from certain.
这其中还有政治因素。据说，苏那克曾建议，本届议会早期的努力工作将为以后临近大选的减税创造空间。选民们一次又一次地表明，他们会奖励那些对公共财政诚实的政党，惩罚那些鲁莽的政党。封锁解除后强劲的经济增长可能有助于缩小财政赤字，而不需要大规模削减支出或增税。然而，这还远远不能确定。
Although the Budget in March will take place while the country remains under lockdown restrictions, it is not too early for the Government to start returning to true Conservative economic principles.
尽管3月的预算出台时，英国仍处于封锁限制之下，但政府现在开始回归真正的保守经济原则并不为时过早。