I WRITE this on Monday [October 17] morning, in expectation of the latest statement from the latest chancellor.

I’m not expecting any good news, and this time probably no cake for anyone. After a first month of chaos, the current government hasn’t much to crow about.

The cost of living crisis is worse, with mortgage holders suffering higher interest rates as well as inflation running wild with food prices, energy prices capped at £1,000 a year more than last year and the government still racking up debts faster than a losing gambler in Las Vegas.

I wrote last week about a long-term energy plan, fixing our dependence on the global market for fossil fuels, but I suspect this government will be too busy concentrating on their own survival to do anything to solve the problems facing residents of Devon.

So they continue to pump countless billions of pounds into big oil companies pockets. The Bank of England has spent some £20Bn holding up the bond market. That money protected pension funds, but ends up in the pockets of market speculators who get richer and richer.

Own current Newton Abbot MP is still praising the September ‘mini-budget’ and her column shows a complete lack of understanding of either the economy or the difficulties facing her constituents.

It is time for a change. Too often we have seen urgent problems met with knee-jerk reactions, and without a longerterm idea to actually fix the underlying issues.

Governments have consistently failed to even look at longer term solutions. Just last week Tory MPs were calling for quick training to increase the supply of doctors and nurses, and not doing the obvious thing which is to remove the cap on the number of medical students that universities can admit. This year universities were paying potential medical students to delay by a year since they were full up to the government dictated limits.

It is no wonder we don’t have enough doctors when the government won’t invest in their futures.

Another example is school meals for children. Lib Dems brought in free school meals for primary schoolchildren. It is well documented that investing in children’s nutrition makes for a healthier, happier and more productive adult. And the Tory government had to be embarrassed into feeding hungry children by a well know footballer.

And house insulation, where the Tory government cancelled higher standards to help developers’ profits, leaving us with millions of new homes under insulated.

And cutting bus services at a time when we really need to improve public transport, especially here in Devon.

We can’t go on like this. We can go for growth, and that is good, but not at any cost and it won’t happen by ‘trickle down’ from the top 1%.

It’s not just about money, it’s about choices and where and how government spends that money. We need to build a future where we invest in people, invest in green solutions and invest in our public services.

But we can’t do that with a government focussed on their own short term. It is time for a change.