The Tories start to level with the public on cuts
Peter Hoskin 9:06am
Isn't it funny how things work? Andrew Lansley gaffes in a radio interview last Wednesday and, as a direct result, George Osborne today writes the kind of article on public spending that he should have written months ago. Rather than shying away from the idea of cuts, he actively pushes them as a necessary measure to tackle Brown's debt crisis - an obvious point, I know, but one that the Tories wouldn't have made so bluntly even just a few weeks back. Here's the key passage:
"We've all been tip-toeing around one of those discredited Gordon Brown dividing lines for too long. The real dividing line is not 'cut versus investment', but honesty versus dishonesty. We should have the confidence to tell the public the truth that Britain faces a debt crisis; that existing plans show that real spending will have to be cut, whoever is elected; and that the bills of rising unemployment and the huge interest costs of a soaring national debt mean that many government departments will face budget cuts. These are statements of fact and to deny them invites ridicule."
One of the biggest factors helping the Tories in this debate is Gordon Brown's reliance on the old "cuts vs investment" dividing line, when the public debate has moved beyond that. Exhibit A: Ed Balls crops up in today's Guardian, spouting the same "Mr. 10%" trash that we heard last week, and is roundly dismissed by Jackie Ashley on the comment pages of the same paper. So soon after nearly losing the Labour party leadership, Brown is now losing what is perhaps the biggest pre-election battle there is. Not, I imagine, how he would have wanted to start his fightback...
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Andrew
June 15th, 2009 9:14am Report this commentI do wonder if Lansley's gaffe was real, or a deniable fishing expedition by Cameron and Osborne.
Ray
June 15th, 2009 9:18am Report this commentA knighthood for Andrew Lansley for (maybe unintentionally) robbing Brown of the ability to peddle another one of his infamous 'brownies'!
dorothy wilson
June 15th, 2009 9:31am Report this comment"So soon after nearly losing the Labour party leadership"
But Brtown did lose the Labour party leadership. He is now the "leader" in name only. The real leader is Mandelson.
Denis Cooper
June 15th, 2009 9:54am Report this commentPeter
Please could you experts work out just what fraction of the present government spending is being financed by borrowing?
If the budget deficit will be about 12% of GDP, and spending will be about 50% of GDP, then a quarter of the money being spent by the government is borrowed money - one pound in every four.
Is that correct?
If so, surely the public will instantly understand that if your income is £15,000 a year, you can't carry on spending £20,000 a year on your living costs?
Incidentally last week on the money-go-round the Bank of England conjured £6.4 billion out of thin air and used it to buy gilts from private investors, while in parallel the Treasury borrowed £6.2 billion from private investors by selling them gilts.
Isn't it obvious that the new money being created by the Bank is being deliberately channelled into the Treasury's coffers, via the gilts market?
Flemingcrag
June 15th, 2009 9:57am Report this commentSurely the biggest "cut" in public services taking place now, is due to the amount of interest payable now and in the future on Government borrowings. If you have £100 to spend but, must first give away £20 to service debt then that is a 20% reduction in the amount of service(s) your money can buy.
That no-one seems able to aticulate this appalling waste in "small" enough numbers to resonate with the public has to be the biggest open goal missed by any political party. There is no point trying to express it in annual sums of £billions or £trillions, this just goes over peoples heads.
The amount this country loses in public services each day to pay the interest on Gordon Brown's debt should be hung like an albatross around his neck.
Every day the Tories should highlight the current Government spend that goes on re-paying debt and spell out the real investment this could buy by reducing this awful waste.
wonderfulforhisage
June 15th, 2009 10:12am Report this commentOsborne writes: "We've all been tip-toeing around one of those discredited Gordon Brown dividing lines for too long. The real dividing line is not 'cut versus investment', but honesty versus dishonesty."
I wonder if this means we can look forward to some honesty about EU policy from the Cameroons in the near future? I doubt it.
The Fearty from Fife v The Wimp from Witney. What a choice.
Paul sussex
June 15th, 2009 10:26am Report this commentGordon is Mr 15% (in the last election).The way he is going he will soon be MR 10%
Aloicius
June 15th, 2009 10:26am Report this commentGeorge Osbourne in today's Times is finally open about LABOUR CUTS because that is what these are: whovever has to implement them these cuts are the result of the appaling mismanagement of the economy by the self-proclaimed brilliant Chancellor Brown.
Credit must also go to Fraser Nelson who, first in the Spectator and then at the Downing St conference bravely took on Brown about his deceit and precipitated the debate on "Labour cuts".
DM
June 15th, 2009 11:19am Report this commentPeople know there has been overspend and waste. People want cuts. People know they also make sense when there is so much debt. They can be sold as an electoral promise much more easily than 5 years ago.
Paul
June 15th, 2009 12:23pm Report this commentJust noticed. It is Balls the Proxy-Chancellor who is doing the job he had been lined up for: spinning the lie about Tory finance plans.
Obviously Darling won't sign up to the agenda.
Verity
June 15th, 2009 1:18pm Report this commentWonderful for His Age - Don't hold your breath.
TGF UKIP
June 15th, 2009 4:33pm Report this commentLate, too late, much too late. Now that the Pusillanimous Pair can duck and dodger no longer, they come out in the open too late to repair their discredited credibility.
And Wonderfulforhisage what an elegant summary of our choice next time round, except of course real conservative eurosceptics can and should make use of the obvious alternative.
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