Liz Truss’s pledge to protect cash as a form of currency should play well with the electorate. At least that’s the impression you would get from anecdotal evidence. By contrast, the good burghers at HMRC probably salivate at the prospect of a cashless society given that it would sound the death knell for the ‘black economy’ – the part of a country’s economic activity which is unrecorded and untaxed by its government. The fact that certain corners of the economy don’t fall under Whitehall’s purview may be undesirable from a fiscal perspective, but cash affords a certain degree of anonymity which is comforting when you consider the extent to which your activities can be monitored in the digital economy.
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