The story broke late last night: Senate Republicans, in a rare show of fiscal restraint, have slashed Donald Trump’s proposed £1bn ballroom at his Doral resort from the spending bill. The move, dismissed by Trump loyalists as a betrayal, is actually a masterclass in budgetary discipline that Whitehall would do well to study. For years, the Treasury has rubber-stamped vanity projects under the guise of economic stimulus.
From HS2’s spiralling costs to the endless dithering on nuclear fusion, Britain has treated public money as a bottomless pit. The Senate GOP’s decision sends a clear signal: even the most glamorous baubles must face the scalpel. Gilt yields, already wobbling on news of persistent inflation, would breathe easier if Westminster adopted a similar rigour.
The market’s verdict is simple: cut the fat or pay the price in higher borrowing costs. Labour’s spending plans, dressed as investment, risk the same fate. Capital flight doesn’t care about manifestos; it cares about credibility.
Today’s bonfire of Trump’s ballroom is a reminder that fiscal discipline is not cruelty, it is sanity.
