The new firm of Osbourne Osborne* & Laws got off to a good start yesterday. True, trimming £6bn from this year’s budget is a trivial task compared to the decisions that lie ahead but as a statement of good sense and prooof of good intentions it was, as I say, a good start**.
The plain truth is that the government will lose around £500m every day this year. That’s not sustainable and when put in such terms the public can understand, one trusts, that something will have to give.
Let us now praise a Labour minister: Liam Byrne. Not for the fiscal profligacy that has left the public finances in much worse shape than they had to be – a recession and banking calamity made some losses inevitable – but for the political cover he’s given the new coalition. Indeed, George Osborne is heavily-kevlared: not only does David Laws minimise the impact of the “Tory cuts” accusation, so Liam Byrne’s note to his successosr apologising that, sorry old chap, “There’s no money left” makes the case for fiscal restraint for the new Chancellor.
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