Two small comments on today’s dreadful news. I also feel the dilemma that Parris poses!
Christina Speight
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BBC 1 - Andrew Marr Show 28.6.09
Cable: public spending situation "dire", cuts must be made
•Vince Cable MP, Liberal Democrats Treasury spokesman
Answering questions on his article in today's Mail on Sunday, Mr Cable criticised the Conservatives for postponing decisions on spending, and called for the other parties to follow the Liberal Democrats in announcing their targets for cuts.
"The worry I have about the Conservative approach is, they say we'll be tough and then they say wait until after the election and we'll tell you how we'll do it," he said. [How can they make such announcements NOW when every day it gets worse. It’s a moving target. Whenever the election comes then is the time -cs]
He criticised Conservative plans to ringfence health spending. "It shouldn't be slaughtered by - we can't just have arbitary - just put a ringfence around health."
He also disputed the Government's line that Labour will not cut spending. "Actually they are cutting public expenditure and when you take account of capital expenditure, there are already cuts under this Government," he said.
"What we can say is that the public spending revenue situation is quite dire," he said as he outlined Liberal Democrats to reduce public sector pensions and reverse the recommissioning of Trident.
He also said that the Liberal Democrats would not raise the overall tax take. "We're arguing that the overall level of tax should not be raised and ideed we're arguing that people on low pay... should be lifted out of tax."
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CONSERVATIVE HOME 28.6.09
(extract from Sunday Times)
Matthew Parris: David Cameron must bore for Britain on the subject of spending
"Should Mr Cameron simply hope that the Opposition have made their point, and change the subject? Or should he act the club bore and hammer tediously on about the Government’s failure to acknowledge either the mess we’re in, or the spending cuts that are thundering towards us like a runaway train? He should hammer on. He must bore for Britain. This is so much bigger than any other question facing the nation, so much more urgent, so much more disgraceful, so much more likely to impact on all our lives for a decade to come, that for Mr Cameron to turn aside from the issue in exasperation as Mr Brown fibs, and fibs, and fibs, and persistently refuses to look Parliament or the country in the eye, would be a dereliction of an opposition leader’s duty." - Matthew Parris in the Sunday Times
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