It was perhaps right that Osborne should state his views in front of
a more hostile bunch of journalists it is hard to imagine. One at
least was a founder Blairite! (The Times in general is NOT currently
anti-Tory but this bunch below are scarcely friendly!)
Osborne is right to say that the public distrust ‘borrowing to cut
taxes’. The polls have said so. But his mantra about properly funded
tax cuts will not work unless it is married to a proper cut in
expenditure of a major nasture. Tinkering will not do and I
repeatedly point to two big programmes which would save billions.
(NHS centralised computer system and ID cards). Everybody will
produce alternatives but unless they can be implemented without
lergislation and speedily - forget them. Economists suggest that
minimum tax cuts of £20 bn would be necessary to be effective.
So the crux of the matter in judging Tory policies is will they grasp
the nettle of expenditure cuts ?
xxxxxxxxxxx cs
===========================
a more hostile bunch of journalists it is hard to imagine. One at
least was a founder Blairite! (The Times in general is NOT currently
anti-Tory but this bunch below are scarcely friendly!)
Osborne is right to say that the public distrust ‘borrowing to cut
taxes’. The polls have said so. But his mantra about properly funded
tax cuts will not work unless it is married to a proper cut in
expenditure of a major nasture. Tinkering will not do and I
repeatedly point to two big programmes which would save billions.
(NHS centralised computer system and ID cards). Everybody will
produce alternatives but unless they can be implemented without
lergislation and speedily - forget them. Economists suggest that
minimum tax cuts of £20 bn would be necessary to be effective.
So the crux of the matter in judging Tory policies is will they grasp
the nettle of expenditure cuts ?
xxxxxxxxxxx cs
===========================
15.11.08
Gordon Brown risks run on the pound, says George Osborne
Alice Thomson, Rachel Sylvester, Philip Webster and Francis Elliott
Britain is heading for a “collapse of sterling” if Gordon Brown
persists with trying to borrow his way out of trouble, George Osborne
says in an interview with The Times today.
Risking accusations that he is talking down the pound, the Shadow
Chancellor mounts a ferocious attack on the Prime Minister, accusing
him of following a deliberate “scorched-earth policy” that would
leave the economy in a mess for the Tories to inherit.
Mr Osborne, ignoring the convention that senior politicians do not
predict runs on the pound, says that the country knows instinctively
that no government can borrow its way out of debt. He claims that the
weight of debt will stifle recovery and also create a big risk for
sterling.
“Sterling has devalued rapidly against the euro and the dollar. We
are in danger, if the Government is not careful, of having a proper
sterling collapse, a run on the pound. The danger of a run on the
pound . . . is that it pushes up long-term interest rates, which is a
huge burden on the economy. The more you borrow as a government the
more you have to sell that debt and the less attractive your currency
seems.”
The Shadow Chancellor’s warning of dangers to the pound came as
sterling remained under intense pressure on currency markets.
The pound yesterday slipped to a 13-year low against a basket of
other currencies. The dollar rate fell to below $1.48 and the euro
rate to €1.17, a record low, capping its biggest weekly fall against
the single currency.
Mr Osborne, fighting back after recent criticism of his performance
as Shadow Chancellor, and of his involvement in the Corfu yacht
affair, makes plain that his role is not being diminished and that he
will continue to mastermind his party’s general election strategy.
He insists that he will be instinctively opposed to any “unfunded tax
cuts” to be unveiled by Alistair Darling in the PreBudget Report on
Monday week. But, with Mr Brown having declared in advance that the
stimulus to be announced in the PBR will be unfunded, he leaves open
the door to allowing through such tax cuts, as many on the Right of
his party are urging him to do. He says: “What we are in favour of is
funded tax cuts. I’m in favour of real tax cuts not tax cons.” But he
then adds: “I’m not going to prejudge the PreBudget Report. I’m going
to wait and see what he has to say.”
Mr Osborne suggests that Mr Brown “doesn’t care” how much he borrows.
“His view is he probably won’t win the next election. The Tories can
clear this mess up after I’ve gone. That is deeply irresponsible.
It’s a scorched-earth policy, which I think the history books will
write up as a total disaster and which the public will see through
between now and the election.”
Mr Osborne responds to the criticism that he is too remote from
backbench Tory MPs by saying that his “door is completely open” to
anyone who wants to talk to him. Asked whether he would move to
another job he says: “David Cameron decides who is in the Shadow
Cabinet and what jobs we do. But we are working very closely together
on economic policy not just for now, but for the election to come.”
Meanwhile, Mr Brown hinted yesterday that he will raise tax credits
for the low paid as part of measures to kick-start the ailing
economy. He also made an implicit criticism of the Bank of England
for not lowering interest rates more quickly and suggested further
cuts were “essential”.
(- - - Brown in USA)
The British Chambers of Commerce also sounds a warning over the
threat to the pound today. In its latest economic forecast, the BCC
says that were markets to come to see likely sharp rises in public
borrowing as reckless the pound “may plummet to dangerous new lows”.
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