Sunday, June 11, 2023
Her Majesty's feeble opposition
There was a lot wrong with Tony Blair's government, not least his willingess to join Bush in an illegal war in Iraq, and the disregard for individual rights and freedoms, as they pursued projects like ID cards, but the first term was also quite frustrating simply because he and his chancellor refused to move away from sticking to Tory spending plans and allowed public services to suffer for two years before finally beginning to invest the money needed to turn them around. Alas, it looks very much as if a Starner government will be following the same pattern.
The Independent reports that Labour have performed a major U-turn on one of Labour’s key economic policies, as the party delayed plans to borrow £28bn a year for a green investment pledge.
Rachel Reeves - who said she wanted to become Britain’s “first green chancellor” - said that Conservatives “crashing the economy” had triggered the “embarassing” rethink.
But Tory critics accused the party of “flip-flopping”, claiming it was another Labour plan that “does not add up”. And Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said Labour’s plan will still add £100bn to the national debt and “fuel inflation”.
Pressed on whether the £28bn figure was no longer realistic, the shadow chancellor said Labour will instead “ramp up” to that level of investment by halfway through a first parliament.
“We will get to the £28bn, it will be in the second half of the first Parliament. But we will get to that £28bn,” she told BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme.
Ms Reeves said in the last two years “the Tories have crashed our economy”. “As a result, interest rates have gone up 12 times, inflation is now at 8.7 per cent,” Ms Reeves told the BBC.
She denied being “frightened of the bond markets”, insisting that the U-turn shows “Labour can be trusted with the public finances”.
Ms Reeves added that everything Labour does in government will be “built on a rock of economic and fiscal responsibility”, adding: “I will never be reckless with the public finances.”
It looks like groundhog day all over again.
The Independent reports that Labour have performed a major U-turn on one of Labour’s key economic policies, as the party delayed plans to borrow £28bn a year for a green investment pledge.
Rachel Reeves - who said she wanted to become Britain’s “first green chancellor” - said that Conservatives “crashing the economy” had triggered the “embarassing” rethink.
But Tory critics accused the party of “flip-flopping”, claiming it was another Labour plan that “does not add up”. And Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said Labour’s plan will still add £100bn to the national debt and “fuel inflation”.
Pressed on whether the £28bn figure was no longer realistic, the shadow chancellor said Labour will instead “ramp up” to that level of investment by halfway through a first parliament.
“We will get to the £28bn, it will be in the second half of the first Parliament. But we will get to that £28bn,” she told BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme.
Ms Reeves said in the last two years “the Tories have crashed our economy”. “As a result, interest rates have gone up 12 times, inflation is now at 8.7 per cent,” Ms Reeves told the BBC.
She denied being “frightened of the bond markets”, insisting that the U-turn shows “Labour can be trusted with the public finances”.
Ms Reeves added that everything Labour does in government will be “built on a rock of economic and fiscal responsibility”, adding: “I will never be reckless with the public finances.”
It looks like groundhog day all over again.
