Boom and Bust

For some strange reason the Telegraph is the only newspaper which seems to have reported the views of former London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, who recently accused the last Labour Government of borrowing recklessly - instead of facing up to difficult decisions on tax and spending.

Now I don't have much time for Ken Livingstone, but on this issues I think he speaks the truth and an uncomfortable one at that - because Labour continue to deny that it lost control of economic policy under Gordon Brown who famous claimed, of course, to have abolished the old cycle of boom and bust.

But Ken doesn't stop there, he also has harsh words for two of Gordon Brown's key lieutenants - Ed Balls and Ed Miliband - whom he accuses of failing to learn from past mistakes. 

Labour are cowards for racking up billions in debt, says Ken Livingstone

By Georgia Graham

Ken Livingstone, the former Mayor of London, has accused the Labour party of “cowardice” for building up billions in debts rather than taking difficult decisions on tax cuts and spending.

In a speech to a campaigning group on Saturday Mr Livingstone accused Gordon Brown of borrowing too much in the boom years.

Mr Livingstone said: “Gordon Brown was borrowing £20 billion a year at the height of the boom in the first decade of this century in order to avoid having to increase taxes, because he wanted to increase public spending.”

The former Mayor described the racking up of debts as “an act of cowardice” on the part of the Labour party.

Mr Livingstone appealed to Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, not to borrow more. Referring to Mr Miliband and Ed Balls, the Shadow chancellor’s, plans for the economy, he said: “I don’t believe that borrowing is your way to the future.”

The Brown government left a deficit of £157 billion, which was the largest in Britain’s peacetime history after eight years of spending more money than it received in revenues.

In his speech to Labour Assembly Against Austerity Mr Livingstone said past Conservative governments had also “borrowed money because they haven’t had the courage either to make the cuts that you need to balance the budget or the tax increases you need.”

Mr Livingstone told The Evening Standard: “I criticised both left and right. If it was up to me there would be a target of repaying all debt within 20 years. I’m in favour of borrowing to invest, but not to cover day-to-day spending.”

Conservative Party Chairman Grant Shapps said: "Even Red Ken admits what Ed Miliband refuses to acknowledge: It was Labour’s addiction to borrowing and spending that got us into this mess, yet now the Balls/Miliband plan is to do the exact same thing again. More spending, more borrowing and more debt, that’s an express train back to economic disaster.

"Ed Miliband was too weak to take difficult decisions then and he’s too weak to stand up for hardworking people now. It’s the same old Labour party.”

Boom and Bust (15 October 2012)

My favourite cartoon over the conference season is the one above - from Morland - which appeared in The Times newspaper. 

The person being squished by the elephant is none other than Ed Balls - the shadow Labour Chancellor and arch-henchman of the former Chancellor and Prime Minister - Gordon Brown.

Eliminating 'boom and bust' from the UK economy was one of Gordon Brown's favourite and more ridiculous claims - but his two key allies during the period when Gordon Brown finally became Prime Minister where of course - Ed Balls and Ed Miliband.

Both Eds (Balls and Miliband) were at the heart of the last Labour Government which fuelled a debt driven crash of the UK economy - while making other mad decisions such as attacking the lowest paid workers in the country - by abolishing the 10p tax rate.

And that is why the elephant in the room joke makes me laugh like a drain - as the giant pachyderm planks its big arse on Ed Ball's shoulders - just as he's about to tell the country about Labour's plans for rescuing the economy.

A Bold Step? (29 June 2013)

Labour's Number Two Ed - Ed Balls - gets mercilessly mauled in the latest edition of Private Eye quite rightly, in my view - for his 'head in the sand' approach to the UK's mammoth debt problem over the past few years.

But now Ed has seen the light, so we are encouraged to believe, yet as the Private Eye and others have pointed out - there's a long, long way to go before the country gets back on its feet.

Now if Labour would stop treating the voters as 'useful idiots', I would start thinking about supporting for the party again - although at the moment, I have to say, we are rather a long way from that too.   

Ed Balls unveils his grand strategy to solve Britain's debt problem

By Our Political Staff

Peter O'Bore

Labour's Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls, stunned the political world yesterday by revealing his radical blueprint for slashing Britain's £1.3 trillion national debt.

Previously, Mr Balls had faced savage criticism for failing to acknowledge that the £1.2 trillion debt was in any way a problem, and that the answer to the huge rise in Government borrrowing was to borrow enough money to pay it back.

But now, in a dramatic u-turn, Mr Balls has recognised that something dramatic needs to be done to get our public finances back on an even keel.

He has, therefore, come up with a revolutionary 3-point plan that has left both politicians and economists gasping at the scale and audacity of his financial vision.

That Ed Balls 3-Point Plan In full

1. Abolish winter fuel allowance for top-rate taxpaying pensioners, thus saving £100 million a year. This will leave only £1,199, 900,000,000 left to find.

2. Er...

3. That's it.