Tories abandon their economic policy – to steal Labour’s

Last Updated: October 3, 2016By
Philip Hammond tells the Tory faithful they've been wrong for the last six years.

Philip Hammond tells the Tory faithful they’ve been wrong for the last six years.

Did I hear that right? Did Philip Hammond tell the Tory conference he is abandoning George Osborne’s silly race to clear the national deficit by 2020?

Chancellor Philip Hammond has said he will prioritise spending on new homes and transport rather than following his predecessor George Osborne’s aim to balance the books by 2020.

I did! He did!

He told the Conservative conference the deficit was still too large and would need to be tackled “in due course”.

But he said the Brexit vote may cause “turbulence” and business confidence would be on a “bit of a rollercoaster”.

He said that it was “common sense” to invest to support growth and jobs.

Source: Brexit ‘rollercoaster’ warning as Hammond axes deficit target – BBC News

So former Chancellor George Osborne’s record is now in tatters, just like that of his Brexit-baiting buddy David Cameron.

Commentators on the BBC News were admitting that nobody ever took that aim seriously in any event.

But there’s a sting in the tail – Hammond isn’t abandoning austerity.

In fact, when you look at his speech, it’s full of doom and gloom.

Not only will we have to put up with years more of Tory austerity cuts, meaning they are now planning to have been slashing state spending for 12 years, non-stop, before easing off (the original claim was that it would all be over by 2015) –

Not only is the reason for the extra agony the effect of former prime minister David Cameron’s vanity project – the EU referendum he hoped would unite his rowing backbenchers behind the European project but was used by the public as a vote of ‘no confidence’ in his own leadership –

But these Tories have the bare-faced cheek to try to steal Labour policies in order to steady the ship of state that they have steered so dangerously onto the rocks.

They will borrow heavily to spend on infrastructure projects – exactly as the Labour Party plans to do if it wins the next general election.

Hammond has denied trying to steal Labour’s thunder – he said the Tory plans were “pragmatic and measured” while Labour’s plan to borrow £500 billion was “la-la land”.

But the Conservatives have already borrowed far, far more than £500 billion since they took office as part of the Coalition government, six years ago.

The national debt has risen from £960 billion in April 2010 to more than £1.6 trillion now.

The Tories have borrowed more than £600 billion and don’t seem to have paid a penny of it back.

Perhaps that’s why Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said: “It’s clear that Phillip Hammond is now borrowing from Labour to invest in his own speech.

“He has had to abandon the failed economic agenda of the last six years, an approach which has seen them dragging their heels on tax avoidance, an increase in child poverty, and house-building falling to its lowest peacetime rate since the 1920s.

“”There is clearly still a need for increased investment in our economy to equip our country for the future after Brexit, as well to overcome the last six years of Tory under-investment, but if they pursue a ‘Hard Brexit’ strategy we know that the Tories will continue to make working families pay for their failure.”

That’s true. Hammond mentioned in his speech that families have been working hard to pay off the nation’s debts – debts incurred by irresponsible bankers who played silly games with our money because a previous Tory government had remove the burden of regulation from them.

So: The Tories have dug themselves into a very deep hole and are busy dragging the rest of us in with them…

… And they’ve as good as admitted that Labour offers the only way out.

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No Comments

  1. Nick October 3, 2016 at 10:00 pm - Reply

    the brexit budget is still to come and am sure it will be detrimental to the poorest in society

    Osborne said there would be a black hole and the governor of the bank of england agreed

    well lets see how the brexit people like a brexit budget you can be sure they’ll go quite

    Osborne never lied about the black hole but by how much’ we will have to wait and see

    • Pete October 4, 2016 at 4:00 pm - Reply

      I won’t go quiet I voted Brexit not because I’m racist or anti immigration. But because we had another level of these elites above the ones that are actually voted for and we had no say on their policies. The Tories are dead and buried come a new election THE PEOPLE ARE WAKING UP.

      • Mike Sivier October 4, 2016 at 4:10 pm - Reply

        Unfortunately for you, we DID vote for our representatives in the EU – the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. The Commission only proposes legislation and may not vote on it.
        It seems you voted Brexit on a false assumption.

      • Nick October 4, 2016 at 5:04 pm - Reply

        no chance at all pete’ life is not how you make it

        brexit is very damaging ‘it is not a bloody nose it comes at a vast cost that normal people won’t be able to pay it back

        it is not political at all. having something you cant afford is just reckless so you will need deep pockets which i’m sure you don’t have ?

        it is the under thirties that will feel the full brunt of brexit as there is no such thing as free trade as japan will tell you in their 20th year of zero interest rates

        all uk skilled business are already global players ‘any shortfall is made up from china in the usa case mexico

        brexit has no effect on who you vote for ‘as the public will still need in the main the conservatives voters who have homes and security and labour voters who do not own there own homes and have no security’ and that is how it normally pans out at elections when voting comes around

        brexit is just a unnecessary distraction

  2. Brian October 3, 2016 at 10:19 pm - Reply

    Sickening, yes, the truth dawn’s, so will we see the Tory voters hail this as, ‘I told you so!’ Flip / flops, hide your heads in shame. Red button BBC does not seem to get that the jokes on them either, quoting opinion on Hammonds remarks from our old friend Luara Kuasenberg, (deliberate miss spelling) as “this is big….”. Since when has it been her job to voice (biased) political opinion, is this her own, or that of the BBC. It may be big for the Tories to admit incompetence, but it’s not smart to plagiarize Labour’s manifesto.

  3. Dai October 4, 2016 at 5:07 am - Reply

    Comical to see the Tories have a laugh at Ed Balls, then implemented his Tory light policies.

    Brexit is a mess, and they are blagging it..

  4. NMac October 4, 2016 at 7:45 am - Reply

    Does anyone believes anything these cretins say?

  5. Barry Davies October 4, 2016 at 8:00 am - Reply

    Well gormless gideon never had a clue, as for the Brexit budget we will have to wait and see, after all we should have disappeared under the sea by now if you believed everything remain claimed both poor to and after the referendum, most of which has been shown to have been inaccurate conjecture.

    • Mike Sivier October 4, 2016 at 8:34 am - Reply

      It was all conjecture – both Remain and Leave predictions.
      Did you not hear Mr Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, on the BBC yesterday, saying that the best indicator at the moment is investment – how much companies are putting into the UK following the referendum decision? I noticed he didn’t say how that was going.

  6. mohandeer October 4, 2016 at 3:46 pm - Reply

    Some of the best economists in the world have been advising investing to build by borrowing while interests have been so low with the use of PQE or Green QE but no, instead Osborne printed money and used QE solely for the purpose of covering his mistakes and ended up gambling the nations future away by getting us into further debt.

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