Investing in Cuts
For weeks now the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has been banging on about his government's plans to 'invest in public services'.
Anyone willing to listen has been told repeatedly that the Labour government will actually increase spending in future - despite the evidence of their own eyes - and the all too obvious impact of the recession.
But all of a sudden things have changed.
The Labour-leaning Guardian newspaper reports today that the government is now signing a very different tune:
"The chancellor, Alistair Darling, and the business secretary, Lord Mandelson, yesterday signalled a shift in government strategy when Darling warned that Britain faces the toughest spending round in 20 years if Labour is re-elected.
Mandelson pointedly insisted that Labour is a national party that represents people in every part of the UK – an implicit rejection of any core vote strategy."
The strapline given to this story by the Guardian is even more striking:
"Chancellor says that Britain faces the toughest spending round in 20 years if Labour is re-elected"
So, there we have it - a bit of plain speaking at last - what the voters are likely to make of it all is another issue altogether.
Anyone willing to listen has been told repeatedly that the Labour government will actually increase spending in future - despite the evidence of their own eyes - and the all too obvious impact of the recession.
But all of a sudden things have changed.
The Labour-leaning Guardian newspaper reports today that the government is now signing a very different tune:
"The chancellor, Alistair Darling, and the business secretary, Lord Mandelson, yesterday signalled a shift in government strategy when Darling warned that Britain faces the toughest spending round in 20 years if Labour is re-elected.
Mandelson pointedly insisted that Labour is a national party that represents people in every part of the UK – an implicit rejection of any core vote strategy."
The strapline given to this story by the Guardian is even more striking:
"Chancellor says that Britain faces the toughest spending round in 20 years if Labour is re-elected"
So, there we have it - a bit of plain speaking at last - what the voters are likely to make of it all is another issue altogether.
