Liz suggests

Email registration

Free weekly email update

Great products and special offers for Spectator readers

Click here for great value reader offers and events

Click here for the latest Spectator Wine Offers

This was the Budget of a man trapped by the terrible profligacy of his predecessor

Fraser Nelson

Wednesday, 12th March 2008

Fraser Nelson reviews the week in politics

But what his response missed is the obvious question which is starting to present itself every time the Tories criticise government spending: what would a Conservative government do differently? Mr Cameron quotes with approval the American response: to cut taxes, and hope this will pay for itself with greater economic growth. It is the obvious strategy for the Conservatives to adopt, too: either to cut tax or freeze public spending, as the French Prime Minister says he wants to do for the next five years.

Yet it is a response which the party looks unlikely to take. The Tory strategy is based on the hope that next year, Mr Darling will lay out a three-year plan to grow spending faster than the economy. If he does not, the two parties will have an identical position. The phrase ‘sharing the proceeds of growth’ will remain a platitude. The debt outlined in the Budget is so great that most around David Cameron believe the Conservatives will not cut taxes: that they will be as trapped as Mr Darling is now.

On his way to Parliament, Mr Darling held up the old Gladstone budget box which he had liberated from its display case in the lobby of the Treasury for the first time since 1997, as if to denote a new beginning. This was meant to be symbolic, an assertion of authority. Yet this was never going to be a true break from the Brown era. The legacy of the Prime Minister’s profligacy will hang over British politics for years to come.

Previous page 1 | 2 | 3

More articles from: Fraser Nelson | this section

Print this article | Email to a friend | Permalink | Comments (2)

Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Dwight Vandryver

March 13th, 2008 10:01am

With dreary predictability, Darling is starting to play the "green" card to raise taxation on anything that moves or is combustible. As usual, the hardest hit will be those on low fixed incomes and those marginally above the level to claim state benefits. The abolition of the 10% tax band will only exacerbate their troubles. So lads and lassies, you had better go on your packaged holidays abroad while you can still afford them, before the Great Green Scam cuts in. And don't forget to buy your booze and fags on your way back (that's if you want to come back). There is no "feel good factor" in Britain today, only cynicism.

bill

March 13th, 2008 4:19pm

I entirely concur with your analysis. The shame is that the over the last ten years the Tories failed to oppose Labour as hard as they should have. I have no faith in Cameron's don't frighten the horses approach. We cannot expect anything from a man who encouraed his party to give Blair a standing ovation for God's sake.