Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

David Cameron must avoid the trap set by Gordon Brown’s pre-Budget report

When Ernest Bevin was appointed to run Britain’s wartime economy, he saw his chance to fix policy for decades.

When Ernest Bevin was appointed to run Britain’s wartime economy, he saw his chance to fix policy for decades.

When Ernest Bevin was appointed to run Britain’s wartime economy, he saw his chance to fix policy for decades. ‘They say Gladstone was at the Treasury from 1860 to 1930’, he declared. ‘Well, I will be at the Ministry of Labour from 1940 to 1990.’ Bevin was out in five years, and dead in another six. But Gordon Brown is made of sterner stuff. The Chancellor firmly intends to be at the Treasury — spiritually, if not physically — from 1997 until 2017, and he started legislating with that goal in mind nine years ago.

To commemorate the tenth anniversary of his occupation of the Treasury next year, Mr Brown is planning a spending review which will look at the next ten years. To help him complete his projected 20-year reign at the Treasury he has commissioned various businessmen to produce futuristic reports into what Britain needs. Starting from the pre-Budget report next Wednesday, the Chancellor wants us to think about politics as he does: a seriously long-term game.

On Monday he published a vacuous 140-page guide to government priorities over the next ten years. ‘When you have finished with it, please recycle it,’ pleaded the text on the inside cover: not even the Treasury thought the document would stay on anyone’s shelf. But it is a small sample of much more to come. On the day of the pre-Budget report, Mr Brown intends to publish the Leitch review, looking towards the year 2020 and the skills which the British workforce will have.

Lord Leitch’s interim report, published a year ago, tells us what to expect. He sees a Britain where ‘almost half of adults are not functionally numerate’ and warns that by 2020 ‘at least four million adults will still lack the literacy skills of an 11-year-old’.

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