Money too tight for Labour to mention.

Apologies for the rather bitty nature of some posts at the moment. Various aspects of everyday life have tiresomely intruded on blogging time. Admittedly some of the prevalent stories have also required little or no lengthy commentary. They have spoken for themselves.

Take Labour’s ‘Building Britain’s Future’ document, which Gordon Brown will unveil this afternoon. It will form the central plank of the party’s manifesto for the general election and is expected to outline the government’s public services strategy.

The Prime Minister and Liam Byrne have trailed its contents in elliptical fashion. We know that there will be a lot less talk about ‘targets’ and a lot more about ‘rights and entitlements’. But before we have the opportunity even to scrutinise detail in the paper, or examine whether it is merely an exercise in semantics, Peter Mandelson has revealed on the Today programme that the government’s comprehensive spending review will be delayed until after the next election.

To cut through the jargon, Labour proposes to present its document to the UK electorate, base its election campaign on the contents, and refuse to discuss how any of the policy ideas will be funded. It is a staggering strategy to adopt in its blatant contempt for the British public and it represents a piece of reckless electioneering from an incumbent administration, at a time when responsible governance is so clearly what the country needs.

Rather than concentrating on making a dignified exit when Brown finally grants a poll next summer, Labour’s desperation is making it reckless. Disingenuousness and brandishing outdated stereotypes will be to no avail. The party will simply damage its prospects of returning to government after one term.

Comments

Timothy Belmont said…
Given the state of the Country and the question as to how judicious it is - or isn't - to encourage people to borrow above their means, how irresponsible is Mr Brown's Government? And what sort of disingenuous example are they setting for others?

How can the Government afford to borrow billions of pounds more and label it as Public Spending?

Enough said...
29 June 2009 at 13:04
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