Out of recession and into debt
David Blackburn 11:05am
The deficit is in the Tories' crosshairs this morning. George Osborne pens an article in the Times, castigating Brown's obsession with continuity:
‘We need a new British economic model that learns from the mistakes of the past. First, that new economic model requires government to live within its means. We entered the recession, after years of growth, with one of the highest deficits in the developed world and we leave the recession with our credit rating under threat. That will have potentially disastrous consequences for international confidence. If Britain starts to pay the sort of risk premiums that Greece is paying, the interest bill on a £150,000 mortgage would go up by more than £200 a month.The overriding objective of fiscal policy must be to provide the credible deficit reduction plan that allows the Bank of England to keep mortgage rates as low as possible for as long as possible. That will do more to sustain a recovery than anything else. That credible plan must eliminate a large part of the structural deficit over the next Parliament, starting in the coming financial year. The end of the recession removes the last excuse Gordon Brown has for sticking with next year’s reckless spending plans. The only reason now why the difficult decisions are being delayed until 2011 is that there is a general election in 2010.’
David Cameron’s press conference was dominated by the same issue. The Tories are at their most coherent when outlining cuts and deficit reduction, certainly compared to the government’s very obvious divisions, and strategically Cameron and Osborne are winning this crucial debate. Inflation and mortgage rates are the latest challenges to recovery; Labour ignores these issues. Months after its genus, the public is uninterested in Brown’s visions of the green-shoots of recovery; they want debt reduction ad nauseam. The Tories should peddle that opiate as often as possible.
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Stepney
January 25th, 2010 11:30am Report this commentWhat they should peddle ad nauseam is the effect of National Debt on individuals and households. It's all well and good for Speccie readers to wince but Mr Smith at no 49 hasn't got a clue what the impact of this debt actually means.
Labour will manipulate this ignorance. It's the Tories job to bring home what a complete disaster Brown has made of the public finances and 90% of that job should be what it means to the individual.
We didn't all do PPE you know.
Battle 2807
January 25th, 2010 11:34am Report this commentDavid, David, David.....the public are UNinterested in Brown's policies.
DISinterested means unbiased, not uninterested.
David Blackburn
January 25th, 2010 11:38am Report this commentStepney,
Good point, I think the reference to an extra £200 a year on mortgages should make it plain, but I agreee they could do more to drive the point home. Talk about tax hikes perhaps...?
David Blackburn
January 25th, 2010 11:39am Report this commentBattle,
Thank you. Time for a caffeine hit.
DavidL
January 25th, 2010 12:05pm Report this commentThe Government is deliberately causing confusion between the defict and the Debt. The idea that halving the deficit within 4 years is a viable policy or sufficient is laughable if you appreciate that the debt would still be increasing at 6% a year. The Tories must bring home the implications of that. The interest bill from all this debt and a comparison with other areas of spending such as education would be a good place to start.
I was appalled how little coverage was given to the catastrophic figures relating to PFI last week. This also hits the public in a way that can surely be explained more vividly. The Tories have not so far managed to hammer home the consequences of incompetence.
Dominic
January 25th, 2010 12:58pm Report this comment@ Battle 2807
The public IS ...
SEBHFUAR
January 25th, 2010 1:01pm Report this commentDavid,
£200 per year is a lot more affordable that £200 per month in your original article. Which one is it?
Chuck Unsworth
January 25th, 2010 1:11pm Report this comment@ David Blackburn
Please decide whether it's £200 p.a or £200 per month....
Holly ......
January 25th, 2010 3:01pm Report this commentIf Brown goes for 6 May,Darling will have to
come out with some realistic figures in the budget,otherwise our credit rating will go down.
Darling is being cornered into showing how crap Brown has been,or come out with unrealistic forecasts etc which will not go down well in the real world.
Mr Smith at No 49 may not have a clue(which I seriously doubt),but the credit rating bods do and could get tired of listening to Brown's hollow words.
Will Brown stay to take the flack of an April budget?
Frank P
January 25th, 2010 5:41pm Report this commentDominic
Cruel!
android
January 25th, 2010 7:23pm Report this comment"If Britain starts to pay the sort of risk premiums that Greece is paying, the interest bill on a £150,000 mortgage would go up by more than £200 a month."
Did you say "if"? Don't you mean "when"?
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