A roadblock to even more debt?
Peter Hoskin 10:59am
A snippet from the Times report on Brown's "building programme" for council houses:
Mr Brown has the support of Margaret Beckett, the Housing Minister, in pushing through new regulations, according to government sources, but Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, is said to be resisting proposals that could add billions of pounds to public debt.
If you remember, there were numerous reports of tension between PM and Chancellor over debt 'round PBR time. Of course, nothing may come of it - and it certainly hasn't done much to restrain our eye-watering levels of public debt - but the idea that Darling is in some way a roadblock to Brown's plans will surely fuel the 'Cable for Chancellor' speculation.
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TrevorsDen
January 30th, 2009 11:49am Report this commentHuh?
Jonathan
January 30th, 2009 12:02pm Report this commentI can see the attraction for Brown and Labour. But apart from a brief stint in the Treasury and the kudos of being able to call himself a former chancellor - What does Vince Cable and or his party get out of the deal.
If Vince takes the financial reins in the near future, Labour in opposition (they will be in 18 months) will just blame him and the Lib Dems for the slow recovery, the explosion of the National Debt and high unemployment.
Moreover, how does joining this error prone GVN, in the midst of a recession, help Lib Dem prospects at the next election? It will only help the Tory avalanche in the South.
Howard
January 30th, 2009 12:33pm Report this commentSaid much the same on my blog earlier, Events dear boy, events
Chuck Unsworth
January 30th, 2009 1:02pm Report this commentBeckett is always happy when she's spending our money. Naturally she'll support Brown on this one.
But take a look at her track record of money management....
Thom
January 30th, 2009 1:16pm Report this commentThere is an alternative explanation to the why this idea is being bandied about; scarily it also explain much of the bailout reasoning too.
NuLabour, as a political entity, are broke.
Brown as party leader has struggled to fill the role of chair for months and even harder to keep it filled; it would be interesting to find out precisely how many loans and by whom senior party members, who are responsible for paying them back, and comparing them against a list of financial group leaders who benefitted, either from shorting the market, from bailout money or from a falling sterling, would be interesting, indicate and damning.
Either way, Labour will only survive out of power if it bonds with the Lib Dems; extending the branch is their only chance.
Brian Taylor
January 30th, 2009 3:40pm Report this commentAnd who will they fill these council houses up with? Not the respectable working class families in full employment, but, more likely, Karen Matthews' type benefit scroungers.
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