Time to ditch Labour
As Labour describe it, all the economic good news of their first ten years in office was entirely due to Gordon Brown - nothing to do with either the strong economic legacy they inherited from Ken Clarke or a growing international economy - and all the problems since were due to international factors.
They don't even appear to see the inconsistency of taking all the credit for any good news and blaming other people for any bad news. If you have been one of their supporters, Labour think you're too stupid to remember that they promised "no more boom and bust."
Of course, to any objective observer, Labour has got some things right and some things wrong. The sound economy they inherited from Ken Clarke lasted as long as it did because of one very important decision Labour got right - delegating the power to set interest rates to the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England. But ironically even that good decision included one of the causes of the present crisis - to stop the Bank of England being too powerful Labour took away from them responsibility for regulating the Banks. The organisations to which they gave the task instead have not done a good enough job.
Bad Labour management both now and over the past few years is also contributing to a problem which will long outlast the present recession: after the first few years they failed to keep borrowing under control even when the economy was growing strongly, but now the slump is here Labour are borrowing money as if there were no tomorrow. The burden of debt they are accumulating - over a trillion pounds even according to their over-optimistic forecasts of a few weeks ago, most serious economists reckon it will be far worse - is quite terrifying. It will take decades to pay off.
A clear statement of the case for the prosecution against Labour is given here by Trevor Kavanagh in today's Sun and is well worth reading.
People who have voted Labour all their lives have been saying to me and to my colleagues that they are absolutely fed up with a Labour government which has failed them. A friend said to one of the people who were saying this
"Well, you know what to do: there's a general election coming up soon: vote them out."
Back through gritted teeth came the reply, said with great discomfort
"But you can't vote against the party."
Oh yes you can, whichever party you supported, especially if it is in the interests of the country to vote for a change. For the sake of yourself, and for the sake of your country, you can and you must.
They don't even appear to see the inconsistency of taking all the credit for any good news and blaming other people for any bad news. If you have been one of their supporters, Labour think you're too stupid to remember that they promised "no more boom and bust."
Of course, to any objective observer, Labour has got some things right and some things wrong. The sound economy they inherited from Ken Clarke lasted as long as it did because of one very important decision Labour got right - delegating the power to set interest rates to the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England. But ironically even that good decision included one of the causes of the present crisis - to stop the Bank of England being too powerful Labour took away from them responsibility for regulating the Banks. The organisations to which they gave the task instead have not done a good enough job.
Bad Labour management both now and over the past few years is also contributing to a problem which will long outlast the present recession: after the first few years they failed to keep borrowing under control even when the economy was growing strongly, but now the slump is here Labour are borrowing money as if there were no tomorrow. The burden of debt they are accumulating - over a trillion pounds even according to their over-optimistic forecasts of a few weeks ago, most serious economists reckon it will be far worse - is quite terrifying. It will take decades to pay off.
A clear statement of the case for the prosecution against Labour is given here by Trevor Kavanagh in today's Sun and is well worth reading.
People who have voted Labour all their lives have been saying to me and to my colleagues that they are absolutely fed up with a Labour government which has failed them. A friend said to one of the people who were saying this
"Well, you know what to do: there's a general election coming up soon: vote them out."
Back through gritted teeth came the reply, said with great discomfort
"But you can't vote against the party."
Oh yes you can, whichever party you supported, especially if it is in the interests of the country to vote for a change. For the sake of yourself, and for the sake of your country, you can and you must.
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