Cameron chooses his battleground

On The Today Programme this morning, David Cameron came out firmly against any extra public spending financed by more borrowing. For the first time in this financial turmoil, there is now clear blue water between the two main parties. Cameron argued that such a move would only prevent the Bank of England from reducing interest rates—which he seems to regard as the most important step that can be taken at the moment—and lead people to believe that taxes will rise in time.

Labour, I suspect, will not be displeased by Cameron’s opposition; they will see this as an opportunity to fight another Labour investment versus Tory cuts campaign. The challenge for the Tories is to communicate that such a spending programme will not be free. 

Cameron’s performance this morning was, perhaps, his best since the crisis began. Although the Tory policies of a VAT holiday for small and medium sized business and a 1p cut in National Insurance for the smallest forms seem insufficient to the crisis, Cameron was persuasive in linking Britain’s lack of options right now to Brown’s economic management over the last decade. He also sounded more confident discussing the economy than usual, for a former Treasury SPAD and PPE graduate he often sounds oddly hesitant on the subject.