James Forsyth James Forsyth

Osborne’s political economy

George Osborne’s speech to the Tory spring conference today showed the classic left-right way in which he wants to frame the political debate about the economy ahead of the Budget on the 23rd of March.  In a move straight out of the election-winning centre-right playbook of the 80s, he attacked Balls and Miliband as “Two left-wing politicians who don’t understand anyone who wants to get up and get on, anyone who want a better life for their family, anyone who want to create wealth, and start a business, and create jobs, and leave something to their children.” He tried to portray the Conservatives as the antithesis of this, as the party on the side of those “who work hard, who save, who want to provide for their family without depending on the state for everything.”

There was a small preview of what is going to be in the Budget, a promise to do what he can—which is actually rather a lot as tax makes up most of the price—on the cost of petrol and to tackle “the planning delays, the new regulations, the bureaucracy and the costs that hold business back and stop jobs being created.”

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