Britannia Radio

This is a short ‘tour’ of press comment today, with less than  
enthusiastic coverage of the budget.

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CONSERVATIVE HOME Blog    23.4.09
  (This CH:blog has highlighted comments in various newspapers and  
here I give a major resume of that listing!)
There is widespread hostility to the Budget in today's editorials...
"This was a Budget that tinkered at the edges of Britain's problems,  
while refusing to look the truth in the face. Thanks in no small part  
to Alistair in Wonderland, whoever wins the next election will be  
handed a lethally poisoned chalice. On yesterday's showing, it won't  
be Labour." - Daily Mail

"In the past year we tumbled into recession, bailed out the banks and  
funded a fiscal stimulus. Yesterday we looked to the Chancellor to  
say how it would be paid for. The orchestra assembled. The audience  
settled expectantly. The conductor tapped his baton on his music  
stand. A hush fell. And from the stage came the shrill, thin sound of  
a penny whistle." - The Times

"...there is another side to the burial of New Labour and it was  
exploited to such lethal effect by David Cameron in his response.  
Three terms of a government that started out committed to prudence  
and sound economic stewardship are ending in a catastrophic deficit  
that bespeaks the very opposite. Mr Darling's projections for a  
return to growth may turn out to be less utopian than they seem  
today, but the levels of debt that are forecast to persist until  
2017, even by his – presumably best-case scenario – threaten to  
impoverish into the next generation a country that should be rich." -  
The Independent

"If we were not to get any sign of contrition from Mr Darling for the  
Government's economic mismanagement – for only part of this train  
wreck can be blamed on the banking crash – we at least had a right to  
expect some inkling of how the Government intends to pay it off. This  
is where yesterday's statement became utterly unconvincing." - Daily  
Telegraph

"Mr Darling took a massive gamble with Britain’s future yesterday. He  
bet that his own hugely-optimistic forecast of rapid economic  
recovery will prove correct and pay off Labour’s debts. And what  
terrifying debts they are: The biggest borrowings in our history  
which by 2012/13 will be £240billion MORE than Mr Darling predicted  
only last November. Since he got that forecast so wrong, why should  
we believe the Chancellor now — when experts like the IMF queue up to  
disagree?" - The Sun

...and a variety of columnists plunge the knife into Alistair Darling

"Labour's record should speak for itself: destroying wealth, raising  
unemployment, presiding over waste. Now, though, it seeks to pursue a  
policy to retain power that puts in the party's sights the very  
productive and self-reliant people on whom the country must depend  
for a recovery. It represents a savage and pointless attack on those  
without whom Britain is sunk. Mr Darling's failure, like that of the  
Government he serves, is abject. This is Mr Cameron's moment. And it  
is not just victory that awaits him if he seizes it, but success." -  
Simon Heffer in the Daily Telegraph

"This is a horror story. But it could, of course, be worse: the  
economy may not recover as hoped; losses on support for the banks  
could, as the International Monetary Fund suggests, be far bigger  
than the 3.5 per cent of GDP now expected; and, above all, the  
creditworthiness of the British government could come into question,  
with devastating consequences. The government is flying on a wing and  
a prayer." - Martin Wolf in the FT

"Yesterday's Budget statement was a demeaning mixture of bogus  
initiatives, outright dishonesty and low political stratagem. At a  
time of crisis, this pathetic Chancellor offered gimmick rather than  
substance and preferred comforting falsehoods to the difficult and  
uncomfortable truth." - Peter Oborne in the Daily Mail

"This was a cheap budget delivered in a manner unworthy of a man with  
the title of chancellor of the exchequer. There was no strategy, just  
a series of cheap and recycled announcements. It was a political  
budget in that he shamelessly appealed to the Labour party's happy  
little band of envy warriors." - Iain Dale writing in The Guardian

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FRONT PAGES - Main Headlines    22.4.09

TELEGRAPH - Return of Class War

MAIL - Alistair in Wonderland

INDEPENDENT - Age of New Labour draws to a close  [nb web main story  
- front page not available]

GUARDIAN -Darling’s great squeeze

EXPRESS - They’ve ruined Britain

TIMES - Red all over

SUN - At least it’s sunny

MIRROR - Robin Good

FINANCIAL TIMES - Darling gambles on growth

STAR - Gord help us all

HERALD (Glasgow) - £703 bn: A decade of debt