Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

His master’s voice: Balls and the “investment” Brownie

I have the dubious honour of being cited by Ed Balls in a press conference as proof that the Tories are hiding a cuts agenda. I say in the Daily Telegraph that the Tories’ plan is for a 10% cut across defence, education, transport and the Home Office. In typical word-twisting fashion, Balls said it “could see 45,000 teachers laid off,” and spoke as if I had uncovered a secret plan in Philip Hammond’s desk. In fact, it is a basic conclusion that can be made by anyone with a calculator and a copy of the Budget. These are not Tory cuts, but Labour cuts. Revealed not by me in the Daily Telegraph, but by Darling in Budget 2009. They equate to 7.6% real terms cuts in departmental spending over three years starting Apr11. The only reason the Tory figure is at 10% is that their plan is to protect the largest spending department, health. This obviously makes cuts on the other departments I mention sharper. And a simple equation allows you to work out how much sharper.

It is a reminder that Budget 2009 was perhaps the most successful in misleading the public. All the attention was on the 50p tax, yet it disguised a dramatic and sustained spending cut. I missed it, but the IFS did not – they calculated it as 2.3% a year for three years, equivalent to some £26bn a year by 2013/14. In the Commons, Darling actively misled MPs when he said spending growth would be 0.7%. But, as ever with a Brown/Balls deception, it was technically true. The phrase he used was “current spending growth” – which is, technically, just one component of government spending. The other is investment (school buildings, roads etc).

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