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Tories accuse Darling of ‘giant con’ over taxes
Paul Waugh, Deputy Political Editor13.11.08
ALISTAIR DARLING came under fire from the Tories today after he appeared to hint that taxes will rise in the long term to fund the Government's borrowing spree.
The Chancellor signalled that Britain will suffer a short, sharp recession, claiming that it would bounce back into growth in 2010.
But in a newspaper interview, he also suggested that taxes would have to go up to fund rising borrowing, stating “at some stage you have to pay for it”.
Shadow chancellor George Osborne seized on his remarks today. “The truth is now coming out,” he said.
“First the Employment Minister told us that taxes would have to rise to pay for any unfunded tax cut. Now the Chancellor has hinted that under the Prime Minister's plan, taxes would have to rise.
“Only the Prime Minister refuses to admit that what he is proposing is not a tax cut but a giant tax con. Once again he is taking the British people for fools.”
In the first real glimpse at this month's pre-Budget report, Mr Darling today seized on forecasts by the Bank of England that growth will bounce back in 2010 after the nation weathers the downturn.
He suggested that the economy would contract by more than one per cent next year but recover within 12 months.
But the Government's confidence in the resilience of the economy came under fire when former prime minister Sir John Major unleashed a savage attack on Labour's failure to prepare for bad times.
Sir John said that “new Labour has as much financial blood on its hands as any erring banker”, pointing out that Mr Brown ignored spiralling debt, weakened regulation of the City and fuelled the housing boom.
In an interview with the Independent, Mr Darling said: “We are going into recession. I remain confident that we will get through it.”
The Chancellor made clear that his Commons statement on 24 November will reveal a dramatic increase in borrowing, expecting to soar from £43 billion to more than £65 billion. As the recession hits, borrowing will soar above £90 billion.
Bank of England Governor Mervyn King warned yesterday that Britain faced an even sharper recession than that of the early Nineties. Mr Darling said: “The Bank of England expects the economy to come back out of it in 2010. I think things are difficult but I remain confident we will get through it. There is a way to go yet. There will be a few bumps on the way.
“We have had 10 years of very solid growth in this country. We reduced the debt we inherited and spent money where it was needed… We also go into this period with interest rates the lowest since the year after I was born [1953]. Inflation is coming back down.”
Reader views (8)
Labour lies, spin and smearing. Brown boasted he had ended the economic cycle. He must be insane, and deluded. He claims credit for his own disaster of a bust, boasting he came up with a solution. In fact Standard Chartered bankers produced the current solution. And bankers are pressing for IMF adoption of the Spanish model where banks increase reserves in good times.
That is the opposite policy of the appalling economic dunce Brown. He is a stupid thug, who has endebted the UK taxpayer and individuals. Millions were conned by his bullying boasts of No More Bust. The loans they took will destroys lives. Like the loans Brown has signed for the UK taxpayer. Only he does not repay them. Instead he shifts them off balance sheet. He is hiding £1 Trillion of state pension liability where he has no savings. The Northern Rock billions, and PFI billions totals vast sums. Brown pretends they are not there. Can a taxpayer owe a money to the government and pretend it is not owed?
As Brown said at the time of the labour crookery over Ecclestone; 'I LIED, I LIED, MY CREDIBILITY IS GONE, I WILL BE DESTROYED'. He lies and creates favourable measures that he manipulates to deceive the public. He must be brought to account. He has done more damage than Hitler to the UK finances, society and values.
He is a crooked disgrace.
- Jim, london
Maybe we would welcome a Military Coup and a few summary executions. Will these clowns ever learn?
- Anglo, Sussex UK
How has the Government 'repaid' debt when it was, before NCRock, almost twice that of 1997?
If I remortgage for a higher amount, as New Labour have done, have I 'repaid' debt?
More New Labour lies!
- Tom Weston, London
The other thing that hasn't been pointed out by Gorgeous George is that he isn't cutting taxes anyway, just postponing some that have been announced and reviled (like the vehicle tax increase) and giving more money away in the form of tax credits, which will only help scroungers on the dole, not real tax payers.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, Scotland
great - no jobs, mass unemployment, uncontrolled immigration and now we borrow more money to pay off what we have already borrowed. It's about time we reopened the Tower of London and stuck, Brown, Blair, Darling etc etc in it!!
- Fly, london
Sweet Darling is worse than previous chancellor Crash Gordon!
- Georgie, Islington, London
The Nu Labor dream is coming to an abrupt end. Unemployment, eternal debt and misery as as result of 10 years of mis-management.
- Georgie, Islington, London
Any one with an ounce of common sense will know that the Brown/Darling option is a short term bribe, which all taxpayers will pay for many times over in the future, especially if this country is insane enough to give NuLiebour another term in office.
There should be an immediate cut in VAT and National Insurance.
A VAT cut to 15% (the lowest we are allowed to go by our invisible masters in Brussels) would cost around £10 billion. This could easily be funded by the abandonment of ID cards or the NHS database, neither of which are wanted by the majority of us.
National insurance is still under national control, free from interference by the EUSSR. Both of these could be cut without complicated fiddling with the income tax system, which would undoubtedly leave most of us wondering exactly what had changed. But that is Gormless Gordon's usual intention.
If Brown follows his plan to make unfunded tax cuts, we are all destined for hard times for at least a generation. Given their track record, it has been a monumental bout of utter madness to trust this lot with the piggy bank for 11 years.
- Keith Lonsdale, Doncaster
