There are some pretty devastating comments here drawn from all over.
I was going to precis Peter Oborne from the Mail but decided the whole of it was worth reading so that will follow.
Christina
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PBR - Various comments 10.12.09
Conservative Home
1. The word from Germany - thanks to Brown, Britain is now an economic "mini-power"
The big talk amongst London's foreign journalist community today is this remarkable article in Der Spiegel, on the PBR, entitled "Britain shrinks to a mini-power".
Our disastrous Prime Minister is now used to receiving withering incoming fire from German governments of all stripes. But the piece by Carsten Volkery in Der Spiegel breaks new ground, and is actually the best read article on their whole site. The word "Mini-Markt" is a German pun, meaning both a "mini-power" and something like a "corner shop". Volkery writes that Britain has moved from being a "model economy" to being "in ruins". The "public finances are disastrous", "the economic decay is alarming" and that "it seems unavoidable that the next Government will have to make drastic savings in places where it will hurt".
Der Spiegel draws special reference to the fact that the motherland will soon be overtaken by the economes of its former colonies, India and Canada.
Brown's people, doubtless cowering in the corner this morning, must be pleased that, as the article is only available in German, at least their boss can't actually read about our national humiliation.
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2.. The Tory Day Two attack on the Pre-Budget Report focuses on NHS cuts and a cynical (temporary) increase in benefits
Last night we noted the new poster the party has unveiled, depicting the PBR as an attack on anyone earning over £20,000.
This morning George Osborne has gone on the offensive on two fronts.
Firstly, he is suggesting that while the Government is talking about protecting NHS spending, we will actually see a real cut in NHS spending. The reason for this is that since the NHS employs so many people, it will take a £446 million hit from the increase in employers' National Insurance contributions.
It has also emerged that while Alistair Darling has announced a 1.5% rise in certain benefits next year - i.e. just before an expected May election - his plan sees those same benefits cut the following year. Mr Osborne has described the temporary rise as "desperately cynical".
Interviewed on the Today Programme earlier, the Shadow Chancellor again attacked the rise in National Insurance as an "additional tax on jobs". He said that he was not yet in a position to promise to reverse it, but that this was the measure he would most wanted to avoid implementing.
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BBC Online
Pre-Budget report plans imply cuts
Nick Robinson
The Institute for Fiscal Studies says that government plans imply £36bn of cuts in departmental spending ie over 19% from 2011-2014 in order to protect schools, hospitals and increase overseas aid. They say the police pledge is meaningless. They also say that defence, higher education, transport and housing are most likely to be hit.
The cost of paying back the debt over the next eight years is equivalent to £2,400 per family in taxes or cuts over that period
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INDEPENDENT
"Labour's new "tax on jobs" and low earners risks provoking a backlash similar to the damaging rebellion over the abolition of the 10p tax rate, opposition parties warned Gordon Brown last night. Both the Tories and Liberal Democrats quickly rounded on the Government's plan to push up National Insurance contributions, a move that will see employers and employees who earn more than £20,000 pay an extra 0.5 per cent from April 2011... Mr Osborne accused the Government of "criminal irresponsibility" in failing to tackle record levels of debt, adding that Labour had "lost their moral authority to govern".
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THE TIMES - - Peter Riddell
"While Mr Darling’s measures were insufficient, his strategy has made deficit reduction common ground across the party divide. That is where he has done Mr Osborne a favour. The Chancellor has legitimised tough action to cut the deficit."
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