Cameron returns to the attack

While still supporting the need for the bank rescue plans, in principle if not in detail, he today condemned the Government's over-reliance on growth in financial services, public spending and house prices, driven by the rapid expansion of credit at inadequately regulated banks. Mr Cameron attacked the Prime Minister's blaming of America for a British crisis, his misplaced claims to have ended boom and bust and the way a trillion pounds of personal debt was allowed to build up over the decade. And he promised further proposals to help families through the downturn.

Mr Cameron called for a greater emphasis on high value-added manufacturing, high-tech services and green technologies. It is easy for politicians to praise these sectors without having all the levers necessary to make them flourish. however, voters are probably not yet at the stage of asking whether the Conservatives' plans for cutting small business corporation tax and the like would achieve that.

The immediate political challenge for Mr Cameron is to convince the public that it was Labour's taste for huge tax revenues from the City that blinded it to the need to regulate better and to stop the bankers letting rip. With the Conservatives' poll lead narrowing, Mr Cameron is also seeking to bang home the "cupboard is bare" message: if Mr Brown as ¬ Chancellor had borrowed less, Britain would be in better shape to cope with recession. The rises in unemployment and home repossessions will tell their own story in the months to come.

Labour backbenchers are calling for higher spending in Alistair Darling's Pre-Budget Report but that would mean yet higher borrowing, on top of the liabilities undertaken to defend the banking system. Mr Brown is under pressure to show that he can go beyond his bank rescue to helping families facing recession, but his hands are tied because he has borrowed so much already.

Mr Cameron has now returned with gusto to the task of demolishing the former Chancellor's reputation for economic competence. The truce is over and this is business as usual.

2012's legacy

Following yesterday's Olympic heroes' parade, there is good news today for grassroots sport in one part of the capital: in response to this newspaper's campaign, the crumbling Queen Elizabeth stadium in Enfield is to get a £1.2 million makeover. Elsewhere the news is less good. New figures show that, years after Tony Blair first promised a minimum of two hours' sport a week for all children, London is further from this target than anywhere in Britain.

Yesterday's promises by the Culture Secretary Andy Burnham for £30 million to encourage competitive sport are welcome but nowhere near enough. Competitive sport in schools helps academic achievement and contributes to an ethos of excellence. Grassroots sport of the kind that will be supported by the Enfield stadium can have a powerful effect in diverting young people away from crime. This is what ministers should now be embracing, so that 2012 has a real sporting legacy one that benefits the whole of London.

Crossrail needed

THE VOLATILITY of stock markets and stresses in money markets will hit financial firms' profits and has prompted fears that their £150 million contribution to London's Crossrail project might disappear. But there must be no delay: despite City turmoil, population and jobs in the capital are bound to grow over the medium term and the existing transport system cannot cope. It is right to press ahead.