What a difference the start of a campaign makes

Tom Burroughes

It is hardly surprising though, is it? Vincent Cable is not only over-rated as some sort of economic sage, he is also quite prepared to lie like the rest of them. If he was a share on the stock market, I'd say he would be a blatant "sell".

Richard

There you have it.....NI tax will cost average earners about £150...... rolled back by the Conservatives and you will end up paying more than double in VAT just so the fat cats can trouser more of the money they make and invest it in another foreign villa or top up - Tabatha's trust fund.

paulg

Well that was a rather interesting news conference from labour this morning, there was Mr Brown fresh from being caught out three times last month misusing statistics; flanked by Lord Mandelson,who twice driven from office for lying and fraud, states that the conservatives are deceiving everyone over not raising NI.

For thirteen years Mr Brown has produced budgets where he uses doubles or even treble accountancy.

If we are to believe a word of these tractor figures – which we don’t, we would still have to suspend belief in the laws of logic and any known economic model known to humanity.

Firstly Mr Brown asserts the by not raising NI we will be- talking money out of the economy. That’s his first sleight of hand, because the dynamo of any part of the economy is the productive private sector. You do not withdraw money out of the economy by leaving money in the hands of employers and employees to invest and spend.

Moreover, public sector employers are liable for their contributions- thus rendering the NHS a tax increase of £50million or the wages of five thousand nurses.

It is inconceivable that a public sector inflated with three times the spending from1997 figures, has not got room for efficiency savings. After all public sector productivity has gone backwards whilst the private sector has achieved figures of 20%.

Mr Brown is wedded to a bureaucratic model of government- last seen going down the pan in socialist countries. Whilst the conservatives know instinctively that less tax equates as faster growth.

Deceit is a foot but that is because Mr Brown is deceiving himself.

Paul Wakeford

But he is Labour through and through. This makes this man really very, very dangerous to the country.

Stu

Please stop worrying about St Vince, he's got a job after the election presenting Jackanory. have to say though i am completely bored with the idiots from the two leftie parties inventing a Tory policy then attacking it. Could be because they have no credible policies of their own.

Bill Kristol-Balls

Remember Howe

Sacre Bleu

Who, out of the mainstream politicians is going to have the balls to put the facts on Cables qualification to be hailed as the only financial guru in Britain who has any competance. Clown in a Geoge Melly hat better suited to after dinner speeches where everybody is so pissed they don't give a shit about what he has to say and he pockets his cash, as do many others on after dinner speeches bandwagon to be fair.

John Shields

The danger he represents is that for once the LibDems have someone who looks and sounds avuncular and reliable, and who for some unknown reason is credited by the public with financial omniscience simply for highlighting the dangers of debt-fuelled spending during the, err... debt-fuelled boom.

But it's a classic case of LibDem appeal - saying whatever sounds best to the public and relying on the fact that being third party will avert all proper scrutiny of their policies. If Osborne or Darling exhibit the slightest inconsistency or prevarication, they are immediately called before the 'court of public opinion' (perhaps that should be capitalised a la Harman). Not so the pseudo-sage of Strawberry Hill. He can say whatever the hell he likes, happy in the knowledge that five minutes later, all will have been forgotten or deemed un-newsworthy, and he can say something else that can easily be clapped on Question Time.

Timac

@ Paul W.

Don't be silly

A Williams

The Lib Dems voted against holding a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty saying they wanted an In/Out Referednum on the EU instead.

Why have they not mentioned this recently as I am sure it would boost their support and take many voters from both UKIP and the Tories. Unless of course they were hoping everyone forgot Clegg's promised support for an In/Out Referendum.

Disorganised1

Labour posters just don't seem to understand it do they ?
NI a tax on what you earn - VAT a tax on what you spend. Of course if all your money comes from benefits you're better off with an NI increase, but if you actually work for a living you'll be worse off. They then trot out lies about VAT on food to scare people.

strapworld

Richard, you really are becoming an absolute bore. Stick to the labour blogs they may read you!

Remember once you have lost the audience you are ignored. So move on good fellow!

Ben Wright

Why are they talking National Insurance - isn't our economy facing bigger problems than this?

Right On

Pretty pathetic from Clegg, one minute he's talking about "new politics" and "doing something different" and then he's launching a blatantly negative and disingenuis attack like this.

Nothing new there.

SarahPollard

@Ben Wright

You are right. Where are all the long term solutions?

Ben Wright

@SarahPollard - It just seems like they all want to talk about tax plans and efficiency savings which can't be implemented.

We need someone willing to deal with the deficit which at £167bn is now four times the size of the defence budget!

The Jury Team want to limit government borrowing and keep it within 10% of total spending. Have a look: http://www.juryteam.org/p02-govt-borrowing.php