Reflecting on Progress and Future Goals

Alright, welcome back to Gary's Economics. Um I've been really looking forward to doing this week's video because I get to talk to you about what I have been uh working my tits off for basically the last couple of months. Uh I've become more or less a full-time lobbyist in this country and that is because the UK is currently by far the closest it has ever been to introducing wealth taxes which is unbelievably exciting and you can pat yourself on the back for that. And today we're going to discuss whether the new UK Prime Minister is going to give us world taxes . Alright, so are we going to get world taxes? Let's get you up to speed with what is happening here in this country because things have been moving incredibly quickly, and I know some of you are not in the UK. We're going to discuss what's happening here and how you can learn to get wealth taxes in your country. So we have had in the UK a centre-left Labour government for two years. They are incredibly unpopular. The Prime Minister Kirstarmer is incredibly unpopular. They got smashed in the local elections maybe that was about three or four weeks ago now. And as I've been predicting for a while, there has been like a push to replace Kirst Arma as leader. Uh, a couple of people basically made their move. Uh, one of those is West Street ing, who has long been considered as somebody who wants to be Prime Minister. He resigned as health secretary and wrote a pretty scathing letter about the Prime Minister. And then Andy Burnham, who is currently the mayor of Manchester, made his move. He has again been spoken about as a potential new leader for a long time, but he is currently not an MP. He is the mayor of Manchester, which means he needs to stand in the seat to become an MP. He got an MP to step down in the constituency of Makerfield, which is again in the northwest of England, close to Manchester, close to Wigan. And if he wins that by-election, in Makerfield. Uh, it is almost certain that he will challenge Keirstama to become Prime Minister. Uh, and if he challenges Keir Starmer to become Prime Minister, he will almost certainly win and we'll get a new Prime Minister. And we are going to discuss first the different ways this could possibly play out, and then we're going to talk about whether we can get wealth taxes. Alright, so what are the probable outcomes? Um, as you know, I follow the betting market very closely on this. At the moment, the betting market has Andy Burnham at about 63% chance to become the new prime minister. Yeah, something like that. 62%, 63% chance. So that's obviously above 50%. It's probably going to be Andy Burnham, but it's a long way below 100%. That all depends on whether he wins the by-election , he has something like 70% chance of winning the by-election. So it's kind of contingent, if he wins the by-election, which he probably will, but might not, then he will become the MP and then he has to challenge Kirst Armer and he'll probably end up being Prime Minister. If Andy Burnham loses the by-election, then Keir Starmer has about a 30% chance of surviving the year, which basically tells you at the moment, what you probably get is either Burnham or another year of Keir Starmer. If we get another year of Keir Starmer, that doesn't mean Keir Starmer will stay Prime Minister. I think it's still very unlikely he survives till the next election. If Burnham loses, then next year we could have either Angela Rayner, Ed Miliband, or West Streeting. But either way, we will definitely get a new Prime Minister and probably it will be Andy Burnham, probably within the next few months. Alright, so new prime minister, what does that mean for wealth taxes? I think it's really interesting to consider what happens when the new prime minister comes in . So we're in the midst of a both a long-term and a short-term economic crisis of cost of living here in the UK and across the world. Living standards have fallen for a long time, but obviously, we are now a couple of months into the Iran war, which the economic impacts of that war are delayed and we haven't seen them fully yet. We've started to see prices go up of things like energy and petrol and food, but those prices will continue to go up. When the new prime minister comes in , they are going to have to have a story that they tell the public about why living standards are falling and how they are going to stop living standards from falling. And it's going to be difficult because there, if it is Burnham, and if it is this year, he's going to come into power in the context of living standards about to fall significantly more . Now, Andy Burnham, for anyone who doesn't know, who is not in um maybe not in the UK, he tends to poll the best of any Labour politician in the country. Um some people say the best of any politician in the country. So he's currently quite popular and there may be a bounce in popularity of the Labour Party, if and when he comes in. I think it's really interesting to look at what the betting markets have done with regards to the next general election, which is something that I follow closely. So we've been doing a few videos on this here and there, and um Labour's chances of winning the next election fell down to as low as I think twenty-one percent at one point. But in the last few weeks, since it's become clear that Burnham is probably going to be Prime Minister, they have basically gone up to about 3 5%, which puts them neck and neck with reform. So betting markets think that if Burnham comes in, he could maybe win the next election, he could maybe beat reform, but when I think it's important to remember that when Rishi Sunak came in he was pretty popular he had a really good brand for being like good with money um which is great because he came in the middle of an economic crisis. Um, he really managed to build a lot of economic popularity for giving a lot of money out during COVID. Um he used to work for Goldman Sachs, the very famous investment bank. So he he had this, and of course, he's himself like unbelievably wealthy. So he had this image of like he's good with money, um, and people thought he was going to be popular, but I predicted he would collapse in popularity because when he came in, he wasn't going to deal with inequality, which means living standards would fall. And as I predicted, he collapsed in popularity very quickly. People who watched my video before Kir Starmer came in will see. It's easy to forget, you know, Kir Starmer won an electoral landslide only two years ago and was, at least for a brief period in time, pretty popular. He came in, he presided over a massive collapse in living standards, and now he's like basically like the most unpopular man like in the history of the country. So the new prime minister , when they come in, is really going to have to have a stor y on the economy and on living standards and how they're going to stop living standards from falling. And it's not going to be easy to do that. And I think the UK is in quite a specific situation here. Because borrowing costs are so high for the UK government, it's very difficult for the UK to borrow money. So it's gonna be very difficult for any new Prime Minister to come in and start spending money quickly. It's gonna be very difficult for them to stop living standards from falling in the short term. And if I'm totally honest, I think becoming UK Prime Minister right now is a bit of a poison chalice. And if I'm yeah being straight up, I think they are going to be kind of desperate for a new economic story that establishes them as different from Keir Starmer and serious on the economy and living standards. And for that reason, I think we are in an incredibly strong situation. Um, so because of the work that we've done here over the years and you know, all the other great people who work on this Tax Justice UK, Patrick Millionaires, and of course all of you who watch this channel, we have pushed wealth taxes like really into the spotlight in the economic conversation. And they're incredibly popular with the public, including right-wing voters, voters of conservative and voters for reform. They're really, really wanted. Um, they have the capacity to bring money, uh desperately needed money, into the UK government coffers. And most importantly, they're the only thing really which can stop living standards from falling in the long term. So when I look at the situation that the new prime minister is going to inherit when they come in, and yeah, it could it'll probably be this year, it could be next year. I genuinely can't see anything else that they can do that is not going to get them like absolutely smashed . Um, and one thing I wanted to do in this video, is like talk a little bit about how do you get politicians to give you wealth taxes. And I think I'm not a professional lobbyist, but in the last sort of few months I've been lobbying my dits off. And um I think you really want to get politicians into a situation where they can't f you without fing themselves. And I think this is basically where we are now with the UK government. A new leader is gonna come in. And just to put it quite simply, if it's not wealth tax es, like what is it? I don't see any like real good alternative plan for them and what is really reassuring about this is that um and I think this is really interesting it's and it's it's been really interesting for me is for the first time ever, it seems like they know it. So people who've been watching this channel for a long time will know I've been lobbying the Labour Party to do wealth taxes for you know a good three years or so, you know, since before they were in in power. And that has mostly felt like banging my head against a brick wall. And a lot of people in Labour have uh been pretty unpleasant in the way that they've spoken about me. But suddenly, all of a sudden, in the last sort of month or so, all of these people who've refused to answer my emails are suddenly getting in touch, uh, which is fantastic. Uh and they're sending me emails and they're calling me up and saying, Hey Gary, how do these wealth taxes work? And you know ob,viously , I can't promise, so that means they're gonna do it, but their tone has shifted enormously. Um, you know, think tanks, which are also a lot of most think tanks have ignored me for a long time, getting in touch with me, getting in touch with Gabriel Zuckman in France, tell us how well taxes work. And what what I can see, which maybe you can't see, not being in this world of lobbying, suddenly it can't it feels like the whole shit is turning and all of these Labour MPs suddenly want to be my mate and want to talk about wealth taxes. And I think that is because they have realized exactly what I've been saying here, which is if they don't do wealth taxes now, they are basically like totally f so I think I need to like be really clear here about what I'm asking from the Labour Party and and I want to also sort of let like you the the the view ers, be clear about what I'm doing behind the scenes. Because I think that sometimes in the way that I've been portrayed in the media, and especially you've got to recognise like most politicians read like the very mainstream media, so they don't really see like what's they probably don't watch this channel, for example. And there's been a kind of attempt in the media to sort of portray me as like some sort of like mad communist or something, some sort of super unrealistic guy who doesn't have any economics degrees, uh, none of which is true. Um, and I've been doing a little bit of a charm offensive behind the scenes to try to talk to Labour MPs and just let them know I'm not asking and I don't expect and if you if you have any connections in Labour, maybe like click this bit or send in this bit. I'm not asking and I don't expect Labour, any new Labour Prime Minister to come in and do World Taxes on day one. I recog nize that the correct planning and design of wealth tactics is incredibly important. And if they are implemented badly, they could have negative consequences. I don't want to introduce anything that is going to hurt the UK economy, right? I want these things to be planned incredibly well. We had Gabriel Zuckman on the channel last week. And the reason that I've spent, you know, so long trying to build a really good relationship with Gabriel Zuck man is because quite simply I believe that Gabriel Zuckman and his team in France are the best economists in the world on the planning and design of wealth taxes. And as I've been out here for years now trying to convince the British public and the British politicians that they should do wealth taxes. If we are going to get them, I want them to be designed by the best people in the world. And the fact is, there are people in this country, who are working on wealth taxes and they're good. They're good, you know. And I have basically in many ways gone over their head to Gabriel Zuckman because I want these to be designed by the best people in the world. Like I want it to be clear, because I think a lot of maybe Labour and peace have got the wrong impression on this. I'm not trying to destroy Labour. I want Labour to win the next election. The reason I've been like strategically attacking Labour in many ways for the last two years is because I want to force them to reach a situation where they have to do the policy which they need to do. So what I'm asking of these politicians when I meet them, um, and I am having to spend a lot of time meeting people and sending emails at the moment. Put a little bit of money together. Get a team of economists to do a really serious study on how to do these wealth taxes well. Speak to me, speak to Gabriel Zuckman and his team, give it a couple of years, design the best wealth tax you possibly can, and be ready to do it before the next election. And what I've been telling these MPs is um if they do this thing, if they create the team that can really really do the analysis to make sure that this thing is perfectly designed, if I can talk to those guys, if I can look them in the eye, if I can see seriousness, then I will go out on my channels and I will tell every one finally we have a government that is being serious about dealing with this problem of growing inequality. Basically what I'm saying is like I'm here to back it. I'm here to support it. I will work you know I will do everything I can to make sure you're in the next elec tion if you show me seriousness on working towards fixing this problem. And we could get it. It's just like it's quite crazy. You know, I'm not saying that we will get it. Um, I think we have to be like realistic here. Um, as I've always said and has always been true, the vast majority of the richest and most powerful people in the world will work hard and will lobby hard, these politicians, to try and make sure they don't do wealth taxes like they want anything except wealth taxes and yeah I go into parliament quite a lot to meet politicians and I I went in last week and um there was like a queue down the street of like lobbyists because everybody knows there's going to be a new Prime Minister and everybody wants to make sure that they get the policies that they want. And we have to be realistic that we here are essentially just one lobby group that is trying to get what we want out of Andy Burnham or whoever the next prime minister is. But what we have that they don't have is basically fucking four and a half million followers on social media and the ability to go and tell the public these guys are actually doing it and I think what what we need so the risk is and you know this is coming up in conversations that I'm having with with politicians behind the scenes is they say to me we need something quicker than that. You know, they know they're going to come in in a context of falling living standards. And they know that that's going to risk falling popularity for the new Prime Minister, Andy Burning, whoever it is, and that we need something quicker. We need something now. We need something to deliver now. And unfortunately, you know, the UK government has reached this situation where , and I think this has been like really, really clear from what happened to Keir Star mer, you you can't deliver quick fixes if you are unwilling to deal with a long-term problem. So so just after um Keir Starmer and Labour won the election 2024, I happened randomly to like like bump into somebody who was like quite a senior in Labour um and they knew who I who I was and I knew who they were and and I said to them, hey, you know, like well done on the election. Um but you know you probably maybe already aware of this but like if if you don't deal with that growing inequality problem like you you you're gonna find very very quickly that you can't do any of the other things that you wanna do um and you're gonna be I think what I said was uh you know I don't envy your situation um it's gonna be incredibly difficult if you don't fix this thing. Um and what that person said to me at that time was oh don't don't worry because we've got a commons strategy for that and I remember my my like stomach like sinking oh god um Um , I want this to be a lesson, you know. To you know, I don't hate Labour, you know, I don't hate Star mer, but you cannot make that same mistake again. You cannot come into power with an unwillingness to get to grips with the long-term problems of the country and then be surprised when living standards collapse. And I know, I understand, I fully understand that you want short-term wins in this. I don't see those short-term wins being available. And I think I need you to be honest with yourselves and to be honest with the British public and to turn around to the British public and say, listen, the situation is f but we are the people who are going to do the work to seriously fix the long-term problems of inequality in this country. And if you do that, I fucking promise I will work my tits off to make sure the British public believe you. If you can show me that you are serious in fixing the long-term problems of the finging British public, then I will make do the fucking and I'll get all the every f<unk>ing influencer I know to do it as well. And listen, you know everyone hates you and you've got no fing social media game at all. I get more views than fing question time here. Give me serious work towards fixing the long-term problems in the medium term, and I will back you with every fucking political influencer on fucking YouTube and Instagram. And another interesting thing happened last week, which I think makes it seem , you know, whether it's just PR bullshit or not, I don't know . Makes it seem like maybe this is another amazing thing that happened last week. Amazing things keep happening. Makes it seem like maybe they understand . So Tony Blair, for those who don't know, UK Prime Minister from 1997 to 2007, I think, came out and basically said the way to fix the economy is to like uh drink a massive glass of AI and deregulate everything. Which is great intervention from Tony Blair, thanks for that. And there are responses from Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, and from Andy Burnham, and from West Streeting, who are the most the two best known candidates for prime minister. And all of these guys came out and said, Why the hell are you not talking about inequality? I want to read a couple of quotes from what West Streeting said. Now I want to make it clear in all this, I've never met West Streeting, I've never met Andy Burnham, I've never met um Keir Starmer, so you know I don't know any of these guys. But people say that West Streeting is on the right of Labour and is not is not the kind of guy who wants wealth taxes. But listen to what West Streeting, the most unexpected guy, has been saying about the economy in the last week. West Streeting says , inequality, rather than being incidental to the crises reshaping Western democracies, is actually their cause . It is vital to tip the balance of taxation away from work towards wealth. And look, you know, West Streeting's MP for Ilford, just like if you want to meet up, we're streeting with your team. I'm here, you know, Ilford boy, born and bred. Like, this is amazing, right? Like, people on the right of the Labour Party, you know , are suddenly basically saying tax wealth, not work. And and Andy Burnham came out and his response was, you know, why have you not mentioned inequality? Even Kirstama said, Why are you not talking about inequality ? And it's it just feels like all of a sudden, you know, there's this big uh West ring even publicly proposed a wealth tax. Okay, you look into the details, it wasn't the best world tax, but like there's this thing in like political messaging, which is like when your political opponents start to adopt your political messaging, that means you have won. And you basically see this with some of what Farage and the Reform and Brexit Party do on immigration, which is they win, you know, the Labour Party adopts their framing . All of our political opponents, you know, in the centre, who have been so reluctant for so long, are wholesale adopting our political fram ing. Um and I hope that they are serious. Um and I just want to let them know, you know, Burnham, Streeting, Rayner, Ed, even Keir, if you still want to stick around, um if you are serious about fixing inequality, I'm here and I'll help you stay in power. Alright, so what are the risks? Listen, I'm gonna be very straight about the maker field by-election. Uh, if you're in Maker field, I think you should vote for Labour. And I think you should vote for Andy Burnham. And you know, as I've always said, I'm not uh I'm not a member of any party, I don't support any party. Uh I've supported the Greens a number of times in the past in terms of vote recommendations. This is a chance for us to get a new prime minister. I can't promise you he'll give us anything on wealth taxes. Maybe he comes in and fucks us over. But it's a chance. It's a chance. Uh, we've never been in a situation in my whole lifetime, and I've been doing this work now for 12 years, where we could realistically get wealth taxes within the next couple of years. Um , and the risk, of course, is that he comes in and ends up being just like Keir Star mer, which is he hopes to do some sort of magic, technocratic economics, language, jiggery, pokery, and somehow fix the economy without dealing with this fundamental problem of inequality, um, what do we do about that? And I think the answer to that, and I think if you take one key message away from this video in terms of how to get um world taxes in your country, I don't think Labour can f us over on this without f ing themselves. I just cannot see an economical commons strategy that works here for them. I think the the the only the best chance they have of winning an election without giving us something, at least something on wealth taxes, is to basically come in and hope that there's a kind of burn and bounce and hold an immediate election and hope that that works. But if you do that and you don't give us wealth taxes, all that changes is instead of getting smashed in three years, you get smashed in five years. You know, and it will just be like Keir Star mer 2.0. And listen, you know, obviously I've been I've been working with Labour for a long time and I've been watching Keir Starmer for a long time and I think it's like really really obvious that they're that some of these guys are quite comfortable shooting themselves in the head instead of talking to me. I've been like rooting around, I've been talking to people, even people who are not really like team Burnham, and saying, like, do you think we can trust him? I haven't met Andy Burnham himself. Listen, if if Andy Burnham wants to come on the channel, 100% welcome here. Um, what I've heard back from the people I've been fishing around is that he's alright, you know, and that that maybe we can trust him. And listen, I don't trust anyone in politics. Um , listen, a chance of wealth taxes is better than no chance of wealth taxes. Um, and you know, I would love for, you know, somebody who is full throated supporting wealth taxes like Zach Polanski to come in and win the next election and then we have the wealth taxes. That's unlikely. Our best chance of getting this is Andy Burnham now. And I think there is a there's actually like a uniqueness about the UK here, which I think is quite interesting. Which is, you know, the UK is generally considered to be sort of a more like American-style econom y within the context of Europe where we're more comfortable with high levels of inequality. But if you look historically, you know, the UK was the first country to bring in the progressive income tax. You know, Gabriel Zuckmann spoke about that last week. But you know, whatever you say about the UK values, the fact is, Western governments at the moment across the world, because they're in this context of rapidly growing inequality, they are faced when they come in. This is true in the UK and in every other country with four options. Either you figure out how to tax the rich seriously, you build that institutional capacity for taxing the rich, you raise taxes on high earning workers, you shut down the welfare state, or you borrow money and go into government debt. And I think it is really clear if you look at the last, you know, not just the last five, ten, twenty years, that borrowing money and going into debt is just by far the politically easiest of those options. Um it's not easy to tax the rich because they're fucking incredibly powerful and they like fund like the newspapers and the politicians. Hiring workers are already quite highly taxed and they're very resistant to paying higher tax, especially in the context of the rich not paying tax. Shutting down the welfare state is like obviously bad and unpopular for like obvious reasons, which I probably don't need to go into. So, because of that, governments have repeatedly just chosen that fourth option of just borrow, go into debt, borrow, go into debt, borrow, go into debt. And the UK, because it has the highest borrowing costs of any major Western nation is basically starting to hit that wall where financial markets will not lend it more money. And now it is the first, and every other country will hit this at some point, it is the first country that has basically been forced to choose one of those three options. You, whoever is the new prime minister in the UK, you must, and I you not just must, you will, just like Keirstharma, do one of these three th ings. You will either work with me to build institutional capacity, work with Zuckman to build institutional capacity to tax the rich, or raise taxes on hiring workers, or continue to dismantle the welfare state. Those are your only three options. And I think because borrowing has gone off of the table for the UK, we have the chance to be world leaders on this, um, you know, and also because of the work we've done here. And you know, the reason that Gabriel Zuckman comes to London and comes on this channel is because I've told him that. And he knows that. He knows when he looks at the UK, he says, here's a country that can't borrow anymore. And has to choose between the decimation of the working class or the taxation of the rich . And we hope that they'll choose the right direction. Okay, so that's it. Um they can't f us over without shooting themselves in the head. And I know the same thing was true for Keir Starmer and we can all see which one he chose. I hope that we get it. I hope it's Andy Burnham and I hope he he's serious. And listen, I'm here. I'm here to back it. 100% here to back it if you do that. I'm here, you know . And I've been I've been in touch with with with these people as best as I can. And we'd be happy to have you on the on the show. Same goes by the way to Streeting or Ed Miliband or Angela Rayner. If any of you want to come in here, talk about your economic plans for the country, we're happy to have you on. And that brings us on to the final question, which is a question I've never asked on the channel before. And it's amazing. Like, I'll be clear, I don't I don't think we will get wealth taxes now because I think the the the very very, wealthy people will push, will use every single thing in their power to avoid us getting it. But the fact is, and I'm not just saying this is 100% true, we could get it. We could get wealth tax es here in this country within the next few years. And that means we have to ask the next question, which is what happens if we get them? Alright, so there's been like a popular attack against me and against Zach Polansky, that other sort of big proponent of wealth taxes here in the UK, which um I've been calling the magic wand theory. I'm gonna put into Google wealth taxes, magic, wealth tax, magic wand . And uh here you get there's no magic wand to fix all the country's problems, Star mer. There's no such thing as a magic wealth tax, uh, minister says. Is that Rachel Reeves? Uh and it's been this like common attack against me and Zack and wealth taxes, which is um if you bring in wealth taxes like it's not going to fix all the problems and I want to be like totally clear I have never said that wealth taxes are a magic wand um my stance is and has always been if you do not stop inequality from increasing, you cannot stop living standards from falling. That doesn't mean that if you do stop inequality from increasing, suddenly everything becomes perfect. I am the guy who is saying in my little area of the boat, there is a hole in the bottom of the boat. Please come down and patch up the hole. Which is how I've been able to successfully predict that Sunak would fail and Starmer would fail, and how I will successfully predict right now that Burnham will fail if he does not do wealth taxes. Like if you can see the hole in the bottom of the boat, you know that the boat is going to go down unless it's fixed. But the truth is, bringing the wealth tax in , it's not gonna suddenly make things perfect. It's that's simply the truth, you know. All it can do in the first instance is stop the collapse, and the truth also is, you know, we cannot expect, and I am not demanding, that the Labour Party do wealth taxes now. You know, you know, obviously I've done the work to go and build a relationship with Gabriel Zuckman. And I asked Gabriel Zuckman. I don't think I did it on the channel, but I think I did it off off-camera. I said to him, listen, if I get Labour in, do you think you have something oven ready to do now? And Zuckman said yes. But you know, we we can't expect the Labour government to just hand the keys of the country over to Gabriel Zuckman. Like obviously, obviously the Labour Party and the government has to do a thorough analysis of those policies to make sure that they're well designed. And I wouldn't exp I wouldn't want them to do anything else. You know, I want to be there kicking the tyres on this, making sure that it works. So we can't expect them to give us a wealth tax, really, like in anything less than two years. So, and what that means is to some degrees , what we have is a difficult sell. Because what we are saying to Andy Burnham and to the Labour Party is: listen, we will work with you to build the institutional structure to tax the richest people in the country. If you don't do that, they will own everything and things will collapse. But we can't promise you that it's going to immediately fix all of your problem s. And I'm going to say to them, if you do it, I believe, I trust that the British public will be willing to back fixing long-term problems, that the British public does have patience, that they will be willing to work with you. And the truth is, you know, I've been doing this for a long time, and every single budget I go around the f<unk>ing houses, talk to the think tanks and say, Are you gu goingys gonna do anything on wealth taxes? And they always say to me, Oh, wealth tax is going to take two years. We don't have two years. We need to worry about this upcoming budget. Basically, like the sort of political institution, the political, economic, academic classes, basically they don't believe that the British public has the patience to accept long-term fixes. And I need to be able to turn around to them and say, listen, the British public are not fing idiots they will be willing to back somebody who is serious about fixing the long-term problems so in a sense what I'm trying to do here is bridge between the Labour politicians and say, listen, if you fix the long-term problems, I will get you the support of the public. But I also need to speak to you, the public, and say, listen, if these guys are serious about fixing the long-term problems, you do need to back them in the context of continued short-term falls in living standards. Listen, and I wish I could give you a different message, but the fact is, that is where we are. We cannot fix living standards without fixing the long-term problems, and we cannot fix the long-term problems immediately. Um, so listen, you know, I'm out there lobbying these guys on behalf of you, and I need you guys to back it basic ally. I need you guys to tell them in any every way you can express your opinion, express your commitment to your friends, to your family, wherever you can, call fing LBC, talk on the radio show, email your MP, and say, listen, we're not expecting miracles, but we are expecting seriousness on the long-term problems. If you show that seriousness, if you talk to Gabriel Zuckman, if you talk to Gary's Economics , we will have the patience to wait and see, and I will then be able to go there, kick the tyres, and continually see are they being serious on it? Um , and if we do that, I know we're still trying to thread the eye of the needle here , but I think we might get it. And the reason I think we might get it is because I continually, every way I look at it, I look at the labour situation, and I cannot see what the f else they can do. Listen, I'll come out now, I'll make my predictions like I always do. One of two things will happen. Either they will give us wealth taxes or they will get fing smashed at the next elec tion. I will tell you that right here, right now. And if they give us it, I'll work my tits off to make sure they don't get smashed. But that's the situation. That's the situation. You know, the Labour Party is there, and a new leader is coming in, and they've got the gun, you know, to their head and yours. You know, and we're handcuffed together on this. If the country goes down, we all go down together. I'm willing to help you fix it, and if you if you show me willing ness, then I'll do my best to bring the public with me. Um, and I'll get every single influencer I know to do the same. So we're here. We're here. And I hope you make the right choice. All right, so I've got here in my notes, as I always have at the end of my notes, ending of hope. And you know, once again, you know, it's it's getting easier and easier to do these. I still don't know if in my heart of hearts whether we're gonna get this. But I just I cannot believe I cannot believe the progress we've made in this in the time I've been doing it. It's the progress we've made on this in the last two years, like you know, and with all the maximum respect to all of the people who work on this, Patriot Millionaires and Rebecca Gow and the great work at Gabriel Zuckman and Aaron Advarani and Tax Justice UK, like, the amount that we have pushed this, like you and us, me, Jack behind the camera and all the guys who work here, like and all the guys on the Patreon. Like I you know, I'm not gonna celebrate before we cross the line because I still in my heart of hearts I I think we probably won't quite make it on this run round, although I really hope that we do. Um the fact that , you know , fucking Tony Blair writes an article and West Streeting basically applies with tax wealth not work. And essentially, so does Andy Burnham and so does like the Prime Minister who seems like he hates me? Like , I just cannot believe what we've achieved, and I know we're not there yet, and I don't want to celebrate . Before we cross the finishing line. But um I think what this shows you is like just the process in the sense of listen , the economic problem here is not that complicated. You cannot allow rapid aggressive concentration of wealth and removal of wealth from the hands of ordinary working people into elites and not expect falling living standards. And I've always said and I've always believed it, if we can educate the public on that in a clear, simple way, then nobody will be able to win an election without doing something serious on wealth taxes and um that is the situation that we've got on the government in you know, and this is why you, know, and that people who, you know, are maybe not ideologically aligned with wealth taxes are starting to have to say they support wealth taxes. Um we've done this by educating the public and um even though we're a long way from the finishing line here, I think it's a good opportunity to sort of step back and just you know, especially those of you who've been watching for a long time and have been sharing these ideas and have been pushing them around and getting your friends and sending them to your mum like I always used to say, um, we we've done this. You know, we we have done this here and across the world. We've got the we've got a political party into a situation where it it feels like it has to support wealth taxes. Um and that is amazing. You know, that is that is amazing. Um yeah, I read the book recently, just to go off on a random ending. I got a book recommended to me by a guy called Chris Morris, who's a comedian, British comedian who I f<unk>ing loved when I was younger. I met him and he he he he recommended this book to me called Bury the Chains, which is a book about the British fight against slavery back in I think the 1700s, reminded me, the 1600s. And he spoke about how like a very small amount of people, they got their heads down and they built this massive campaign that rather than lobbied the politicians spoke to the public and got the public like up in arms about this one thing which the rich kept telling them was good for them and good for their economy, which is fing slavery, which obviously now everybody knows was like fing horrific. And he sent me that book because he he said that this might be helpful for your work. Um and it was really inspiring to see how how you know people in this country, you know, and of course the battle against slavery was not just in this country, were willing to get their heads down and work hard for people thousands of miles away who who they maybe never seen anybody who even looked like those people. Um not to compare this battle to the fight against transatlantic slavery. But people can win, we can win, and I think if you if we keep doing what we've been doing, which is speak to one another, educate one another on this simple message, you cannot fix living standards without fixing inequality , we will continu ally again and again put these politicians into situations where they have no choice to give us what they want. And to finish this video, uh, as not a political lobbyist but somebody who I think has done quite a good job so far. If you want to get what you want from your politicians, put them in a situation where they can't f you without fucking themselves. And that way we'll get it. Tax will not work. Thank you.