What on earth was he doing in Poland anyway ? He got a thoroughly
deserved lecture for his trouble anyway!
We're used to Polish builders fixing our roofs but now they tick us
off for not doing so!
XXXXXXXXXXXX CS
================================
INDEPENDENT 29.4.09
Brown gets lecture in economics from Poles
PM also faces spending watchdog inquiry over Whitehall efficiency
savings
By Michael Savage and Nigel Morris
Gordon Brown came under fire both at home and abroad yesterday over
the state of Britain's finances.
On a visit to Poland, he had to listen to its Prime Minister
pointedly criticise countries that tried to spend their way of
recession.
And back in Britain Mr Brown was accused by Frank Field, a former
Labour minister, of "irresponsible" mismanagement of the public
finances after the Budget signalled record borrowing of £175bn this
year. Mr Field warned that Britain was "sleepwalking into a mega-
crisis". Amid scepticism over the Government's economic strategy, The
Independent has learned that the National Audit Office, the public
spending watchdog, is to investigate the drive to save tens of
billions of pounds in Whitehall costs.
Meanwhile, Labour was facing a potentially embarrassing revolt over
its new legislation for Gurkha veterans, after it emerged that dozens
of its own backbenchers could vote against the Government in a
Commons motion that will be triggered today by the Liberal Democrats.
Standing alongside Mr Brown at a press conference in Warsaw
yesterday, the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his policy of
"strict supervision" of the banking sector and a refusal to live on
credit had proved the best way of averting economic disaster.
Poland has managed to avoid the ravages of the credit crunch,
enjoying 12 consecutive years of growth, while Britain's national
debt is set to double by 2013.
Mr Tusk said: "The Polish government at a time of financial crisis
behaved with full responsibility in terms of its public funds and the
budget deficit. The method we have taken in respect to the crisis is
not to multiply public expenditure but to be responsible with public
funds."
Mr Tusk is not the first world leader to discomfort the Prime
Minister over his stewardship of the economy. Last month, the Chilean
leader Michelle Bachelet said savings built up during the years of
plenty had eased the impact of the recession in her country.
George Osborne, the shadow Chancellor, said the Prime Minister had
been given a "lecture on prudence" by the Polish premier. He added:
"We are used to Polish builders telling us to fix the roof while the
sun was shining, not the Polish Prime Minister as well."
Mr Field joined forces with Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat
Treasury spokesman, to deliver a withering critique of last week's
Budget. They forecast that the Government could be forced into "slash
and burn" cuts to reduce the mountain of public debt. The MPs said
the Government had failed to set out a clear strategy for cutting the
Budget deficit, protesting that it had delayed detailed plans on tax
and spending until after the election expected next spring. In a
Commons motion yesterday, they warned of, "the real danger the
country faces in borrowing relatively more than any other G8 country
to balance the national accounts".
They echoed warnings that ministers could be forced to axe major
spending programmes beyond the efficiency savings already outlined in
the Budget by Alistair Darling. The Chancellor demanded further
savings of £15bn over the next two years when he announced his Budget
last week, on top of a long-running efficiency drive which the
Government claims has already saved £26bn. But economists have warned
that the savings can be very hard to achieve and measure.
Edward Leigh, the Tory chairman of the Commons Public Accounts
Committee, has asked the National Audit Office to investigate cost-
cutting.
The Independent disclosed yesterday that Cabinet ministers are
privately questioning the future of the identity card scheme, while
many Labour MPs believe the planned £25bn replacement to Trident
should be axed. David Blunkett, the former home secretary, yesterday
suggested the Government should scrap plans to introduce ID cards for
British nationals and issue universal biometric passports instead.
[This is a total Blunkett 'con'. Make everyone carry passports at
much greater cost and charge extra to have additionally a convenient
iD card! - Same thing different process! -cs]
===========================
TELEGRAPH 29.4.09
Gordon Brown receives a lecture from Polish Prime Minister
Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, has received a lesson in economics
and the correct means of tackling the recession from his Polish
counterpart.
By Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent, in Warsaw
In a joint press conference following talks between Mr Brown and
Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, the two men were asked for
their contrasting approaches to the economic downturn.
Unlike the UK, the eastern European state has yet to enter into a
recession and has experienced 12 consecutive years of growth.
Asked how his government had managed to avoid the mistakes made by
the British, Mr Tusk said that it was not his role to comment on
other nations' economies - and then proceeded to do just that.
He said: "The Polish government at a time of financial crisis has
behaved with full responsibility in terms of its public finances and
the budget deficit.
"After a few months, our government made the assumption that the
method to deal with the financial crisis was not to increase
expenditure but (to ensure) the availability of public finances."
He added that Poland's success was down to "efficient supervision of
banks and sticking to the rules."
With Mr Brown beside him, Mr Tusk went on to say that his
administration's approach was based on "not exaggerating with living
on credit. These are the most certain ways of avoiding ... financial
crisis."
Mr Tusk's economic lecture comes a week after Alistair Darling
unveiled a Budget in which he announced that public borrowing would
rise to a record £700 billion and admitted that Britain was in the
grip of the worst recession since World War Two.
It is not the first time that Mr Brown has been embarrassed on his
travels by a foreign leader over his handling of the economy.
During a recent trip to Chile, President Michelle Bachelet, boasted
that her country's economy was in good shape "because of our decision
during the good times to save some of the money for the bad times".
Her words appeared to mirror the favourite phrase of David Cameron,
the Conservative leader, who accuses Mr Brown and his government of
squandering years of benign economic conditions by failing to "fix
the roof while the sun shone".
Despite Britain's poor record in recent months compared to the Poles,
Mr Brown felt able to offer his hosts some advice and reassurance on
the economy, citing the recent G20 summit in London.
Writing in the Fakt UK, a Polish tabloid newspaper, Mr Brown said:
"What happened at the London summit can seem abstract, but the big
numbers will translate to action felt at the most local level - in
the amount of money in your pocket, the number of people in your
business, the safety of your savings and your home." [Wage freezes
and cuts don't fit with "the amount of money in your pocket,". Nor
do record unemployment, the halving of the value of savings and
rising home repossessions fit with the other three claims! -cs]
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