They live in an economic fantasy land

Labour’s taxes are driving jobs offshore, says AO World boss

John Roberts, the company's founder and chief executive, also accused ministers of living in an "economic fantasy land" and failing to understand the impact of higher taxes and wage costs on employers.

The online electricals retailer said it had offshored around 150 sales and call-centre jobs to South Africa, generating savings of about £2m, and that it expects annual savings to reach £4m.

Mr Roberts, who founded the fridge and washing machine retailer in 2000, said: "The brutal truth is that of course these roles could have been in the UK.

"When you make these staff ever more expensive and ever more inflexible, that's what businesses are going to do.

"We've got a political class that doesn't understand business. They live in an economic fantasy land."

Our political class does live in an economic fantasy land, we know that, but it's also the land far too many voters vote for decade after decade. Apparently it's where they think they can live without bad things happening. 

Bad things are happening.