Brown as the original begetter of the whole financial shambles
deserves every criticism going. He caused it, and so far from
putting it right, he plans to make it worse by doing more of what he
did to cause it in the first place - over-borrow.
And if David Willetts is right he's putting a levy, not so much on
the rich, but on those struggling to keep afloat by lowering the
means test for university applicants. "Tax the Poor" makes a good
slogan, doesn't it ? He did it before with the 10p tax rate.
Then we turn to Cameron and Brown at parliamentary Questions!
xxxxxxxxxxxx cs
===========================
POLITICS HOME 29.10.08 at 1330
The World At One, BBC Radio 4
Caroline Spelman: We are right to attack Brown over economy
Caroline Spelman, Conservative Chairman
Ms Spelman defended Conservative attacks on Gordon Brown's handling
economy, amid claims her party had offered no alternative policies.
"I think we are right to attack a Prime Minister who, after all,
set his stall out with a set of fiscal rules which he claimed would
survive the full economic cycle," she said.
She added: "The Prime Minister seemed to be a in a state of denial
that his rules had set out the test of time."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-
BBC News at 1521
Cutting grants is "extraordinary incompetence" says Willetts
David Willetts, Shadow University Secretary
Mr. Willetts condemned the government's plans to lower the income bar
for student grants.
He said: "it's a very heavy blow to middle-income families. It's all
the worse for coming now when tens of thousands of students have
already applied for university. That really is extraordinary
incompetence by the government."
Mr. Willetts continued: "This is unprecedented. It shows that Gordon
Brown can't get his sums right. It's students and their families
that are going to be the victims."
======================
BBC ONLINE 29.10.08
Fiscal rules are dead - Cameron
David Cameron has said Gordon Brown's fiscal rules have "collapsed
completely" as the two clashed in the Commons over Labour's economic
record.
Mr Cameron said it was unclear whether existing Treasury rules on
borrowing and debt levels were "alive, dead or in some sort of
suspended animation".
But Mr Brown said he had met the rules, [No he hasn't. Whenever he
broke them he repeatedly changed the figures to look as though he was
meeting them -cs] arguing the Tories had no coherent policy on
dealing with the downturn.
Alistair Darling will address borrowing requirements in a speech later.
Spending clash
In his annual address to the Cass Business School, the chancellor
will offer reassurance that the government will not borrow
irresponsibly because of the global financial downturn.
Mr Brown defended his so-called "golden rules" - which state the
government should only borrow to invest over an economic cycle not to
fund current spending and public sector debt must remain below 40% of
national income - against attacks from Mr Cameron.
The Tory leader said the rules had "failed to deliver responsibility
in the good years and as the bad times came they have collapsed
completely".
But Mr Brown said borrowing levels under Labour were lower than under
the last Conservative government.
"We have met our fiscal rules in the last 10 years," he said.
"They broke the roof. We fixed it."
The two leaders also argued over how to best support the economy to
prevent the current downturn from doing lasting damage.
-----------------------------------
Having excited his party with talk of a new Keynesian economic
policy, Mr Darling is now trying to reassure the markets that our old
friend Prudence is just sleeping - and is not actually dead
Nick Robinson, BBC News Political Editor
-----------------------------------
Mr Cameron said the prime minister had been "caught red-handed"
making "irresponsible" claims about government plans to spend its way
out of the current problems.
But Mr Brown said the Tories had no consistent approach to helping
minimise the impact of the economic slowdown.
"We have to spend in a way which takes us through this economic
crisis," Mr Brown said. [That's what I call a non-answer! -cs]
'Out of control'
The Tories have claimed that borrowing levels - which totalled
£37.6bn between April and September - are already "out of control".
They maintain that further increases in borrowing would not be a
panacea for the economy but a reflection of the chancellor's need to
plug a widening gap in his finances with tax revenues falling and
unemployment costs rising.
While accepting that it may be "necessary" to borrow more in an
economic downturn, the Lib Dems have said the government must
demonstrate it has a plan to rebalance the public finances once the
economy starts growing again.
The party's treasury spokesman Vince Cable said Labour's fiscal rules
had already "lost much of their credibility" and Mr Darling must now
admit they have been broken.
"During a recession it is inevitable that the budget deficit will
increase," he said.
"However, it is entirely wrong for the government to assume that the
economy should be stimulated by yet more public spending rather than
tax cuts, particularly for the low paid."
The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said that while Mr Darling
may quietly concede that the fiscal rules are at an end, he will say
a future framework for borrowing and debt levels will still be
responsible.
Battle over Keynes
Suggestions the government will bring forward large public works
projects to support spending and employment during the downturn have
been criticised by some experts.
A group of leading economists have described this "Keynesian"
philosophy - named after the economist John Maynard Keynes - as
"misguided and discredited" amid concerns it could harm the private
sector which they believe should lead the economy recovery.
Mr Darling would seek to "pour a little cold water" on talk of a full
return to Keynesian economics, the BBC's Nick Robinson added.
He will point out that the economist argued that spending should not
be cut in a downturn, not that it should be allowed to "let rip".
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Posts
