Date published: 2008/11/19
The BBC says:
The Conservatives are dropping their pledge to match Labour's spending plans for 2010/11, leader David Cameron says.
The Tories had promised to match the totals for Labour's spending plans from 2008 to 2011 - subject to a review in 2009 of the 2010/11 spending total.
But Mr Cameron said he wanted to create a "low-tax, low-debt economy" and called on Gordon Brown to "deal with the situation he has given us".
Labour accused the Tories of "turning their back" on people needing help now.
Chancellor Alistair Darling said Mr Cameron was out of step with the rest of the world, with other nations also planning to pump money into their economies in a "fiscal stimulus" aimed at staving off a slump.
...
He said: "We need to be more efficient and we will be more efficient. We are already exceeding the targets we set ourselves for government spending, in making ourselves more efficient and cutting back on waste.
It is hard to know which side is more foolish. Gordon Brown seems intent on completely bankrupting the country on the off chance that enough people will be seduced by his throwing money at them that he will win the next election. In the midst of a deep recession what we really need is government spending (done wisely, which is not easy for this government in particular). We do not need tax cuts. So what the Tories are proposing is not really much better. Unfortunately Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems all seem keen on tax cuts. The Tories are at least correct that tax cuts now mean tax rises later, unless expenditure is slashed to match. But expenditure should not be slashed.
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