Saturday, January 09, 2010
Labour's savage cuts
Labour has had a good go at Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats after he warned that there may need to be 'savage cuts' to rebalance Britain's budget, and in many ways Nick's poor choice of language invited such attacks.
However, the latest pronouncement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer indicates that Labour are planning far worse cuts than anything envisaged by the Liberal Democrats, who were it seems just being honest with the electorate about the dire situation the country finds itself in.
In today's Times the paper reports that Alistair Darling has warned that Britain faces its toughest spending cuts for 20 years if Labour continues in office. The Chancellor, indicating a dramatic shift in his party’s election strategy, told the paper that severe spending restraints are “non-negotiable” if he is to bring down the £178 billion budget deficit.
“My priority is to get borrowing down. Once recovery is established we have to act,” the Chancellor said.
“The next spending review will be the toughest we have had for 20 years . . . to me, cutting the borrowing was never negotiable. Gordon accepts that, he knows that.”
The Chancellor’s language about cuts in his interview would have been unthinkable a few weeks ago. He says that Labour will be more realistic than the Tories, who still have to explain how they will pay for their concessions on marriage tax allowances and inheritance tax.
“We are saying to people there are some things that matter [which] we need to protect. But the next spending review will be tough. There will be programmes that need to be cut. It will be the toughest for 20 years,” Mr Darling said.
Now that it is Labour talking about cuts too the whole narrative of the General Election will change.
However, the latest pronouncement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer indicates that Labour are planning far worse cuts than anything envisaged by the Liberal Democrats, who were it seems just being honest with the electorate about the dire situation the country finds itself in.
In today's Times the paper reports that Alistair Darling has warned that Britain faces its toughest spending cuts for 20 years if Labour continues in office. The Chancellor, indicating a dramatic shift in his party’s election strategy, told the paper that severe spending restraints are “non-negotiable” if he is to bring down the £178 billion budget deficit.
“My priority is to get borrowing down. Once recovery is established we have to act,” the Chancellor said.
“The next spending review will be the toughest we have had for 20 years . . . to me, cutting the borrowing was never negotiable. Gordon accepts that, he knows that.”
The Chancellor’s language about cuts in his interview would have been unthinkable a few weeks ago. He says that Labour will be more realistic than the Tories, who still have to explain how they will pay for their concessions on marriage tax allowances and inheritance tax.
“We are saying to people there are some things that matter [which] we need to protect. But the next spending review will be tough. There will be programmes that need to be cut. It will be the toughest for 20 years,” Mr Darling said.
Now that it is Labour talking about cuts too the whole narrative of the General Election will change.
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I bet Brown is fuming because he had to back down to Darling, I mean brown is right lie to the people to win an election is fine they all do it, don't they.
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