Reader views (39)

 Add your view

Melvyn
Why did Labour win 3 elections?
Simple answer, there was a boom going on and Gordon Brown had promised NO BUST. Ha Ha. People believed it. How stupid was that?
He failed to regulate the banks because he loved all the taxes he was raking in so he could spend more and more. He didn't pay for a lot of things that Labour said they'd deliver. We are paying the price now. Just imagine if our interest rates went up? It doesn't bare thinking about. Labour play on people's ignorance but the story around the world is getting the message through. You can fool some of the people some of the time but not all the time. Labour completely conned the electorate and only the very stupid will still be taken in.

- Jane, London, 26/01/2012 21:33
Report abuse

Actually Gordon Brown promised "There would be no more TORY boom and bust" he did not make any promises about Labour bust!!!

No doubt it suits the Tories not to quote this in full - afterall we had the 13 wasted years of Tories in the 1950s and 1960s then 18 years in the 1979 to 1997 period so with his degree in history Osbourne is simply proving the old saying that "history repeats itself!!".

- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, essex, 29/01/2012 17:19
Report abuse

I am not so sure that Dave is right in blaming all the European Union and the Euros troubles all on Germany. The country worked its socks off to get where it is today, while much of the rest of Europe took time out to party. France was the main leader in bringing the EU and the Euro into being. It has always disliked, and been afraid of its close next door neighbour, and has not got over WW1 expressed in its repatriations on the country after that war. I believe those feeling still run deep in France. I used to take my family camping in France and witnessed the ill-feeling towards Germany years after WW2 ended. It will take many generations of continuing goodwill for France and Germany to get anywhere near trust for each other. The other countries that make up Europe will take many, many generations to understand the German approach and attitude to good husbandry. Probably many never will. As a Chinese man replied when asked to forecast how the European Union and the Euro would work out when it came into being 10 years ago, I would ask you to ask me the same question 1,000 years from now as I am not sure what answer to give. Looks like the Chinaman knew something?

- albert hall, hove england, 27/01/2012 06:40
Report abuse

Colin
And why did we have a 3 day week?
The Country was held to ransom by the trade unions. Because of high inflation the Tory Government put a cap on pay rises. The Unions ran the Country in those dark old days. The Unions still run the Labour party and that is why they have a completely useless leader.

- Jane, London, 26/01/2012 21:42
Report abuse

Melvyn
Why did Labour win 3 elections?
Simple answer, there was a boom going on and Gordon Brown had promised NO BUST. Ha Ha. People believed it. How stupid was that?
He failed to regulate the banks because he loved all the taxes he was raking in so he could spend more and more. He didn't pay for a lot of things that Labour said they'd deliver. We are paying the price now. Just imagine if our interest rates went up? It doesn't bare thinking about. Labour play on people's ignorance but the story around the world is getting the message through. You can fool some of the people some of the time but not all the time. Labour completely conned the electorate and only the very stupid will still be taken in.

- Jane, London, 26/01/2012 21:33
Report abuse

I was around before the start of the 17 years of the Conservative government. Under Labours Denis Healy and big Jim Callaghan there was the 3 day week, homes and businesses were without electricity for substantial parts of the day and night, whilst the NUM, and it's sister Unions, held the country to ransom with wildcat strikes and secondary picketing that prevented fuel and essential supplies being delivered to hospitals, shops and homes. At the same time there were piles of uncollected rubbish stacked car high in streets across the whole country for months on end. Whislt ordinary families were unable to bury their recently deceased loved ones. And to cap it all the Labour government had to call in the IMF to bail out and run the country. This all changed in 1979 when Mrs Thatcher was elected, and just like today a Conservative government has been left to clear up the mess left by another disasterous Labour governments time in office.

- pete, London SW, 26/01/2012 14:38
Er,the 3 day week was under the (Tory) Heath government.The binmen strikes lasted a month.The only gravediggers strike was in Liverpool,again for a month.Funny how Tories never mention the doubling of the oil price the year before Labour took office which ramped up inflation.If you are going to quote history Pete,get your facts straight.

- colin, barking essex, 26/01/2012 19:37
Report abuse

Never mind Dave has got his secret Weapon of Mass Destruction - Boris is now in Davos!!!!

So if Labour was doing that bad why did they win 3 elections in a row while Cameron failed to win?

Thats 4 straight elections the Tories have failed to win perhaps Dave better give Alex Salmond Scotland!

- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, essex, 26/01/2012 19:21
Report abuse

Both Germany and France have elections this year so nothing will be done as Merkel and Sarkozy try to hang onto power. Anything they do will lose them the election, so they do nothing.
The whole of Europe is in a mess and thank goodness our borrowing rates are low because if Labour had continued spending I dread to think how much more our debt and interest on it would be. Labour always said there could be a double dip recession, it was about the only thing they were truthful about. I dread to think where we'd be if Labour were still running the Country. Remember they left NO MONEY and had maxed out the Country's credit card. They also created a dependency culture that is totally unforgivable.

- Jane, London, 26/01/2012 18:19
Report abuse

Good for Cameron. Mind you, the Stalinist hard-liners in the European Soviet Union do not like being told they are wrong.

Stand by for flak from the Franco/German Axis - the First Secretary Merkel and her 'poodle' Sarkozy.

The euro, or as I prefer to call it - the eurine, is a busted flush; and so is the stupidity of the whole corrupt and wholly undemocratic shambles that is the European Soviet Union.

- David Davies, London, a Region of the European Soviet Union, 26/01/2012 18:18
Report abuse

The Euro crisis is a poor excuse for everything that is wrong in the world economy today. My bus did not turn up this morning .... must be because of the euro crisis.

- Angie King, London, UK, 26/01/2012 18:01
Report abuse

Comparing Angela Merkel to David Cameron is like comparing Ronald Reagan to George Bush. In fact I sometimes wonder if Cameron isn't in fact George Bush with a mask on, the displayed intelligence levels seem about equal.

- John, London, 26/01/2012 17:36
Report abuse

Kate, Manchester. Quite simple really. Economics isn't a science. It's pure guesswork. A theory is postulateded, then measured against the actuality, adjusted, remeasured, adjusted, remeasured, then lo and behold the right answer is claimed as a result.
So having a history degree, allows you to see what mistakes were made in the past, have a guess at what might be done differently, and keep refining this guess until the right answer is stumbled upon. I think that how economics works!
Oh, the other side to it is, the economists make predictions that affect the markets in various parts of the world, the money men make their bets accordingly, take their profits before the next economic statement, which when released results in the placing of more bets etc. Or am I being too cynical?????

- alan, Carlisle, 26/01/2012 17:10
Report abuse

Alan/Carlisle

I don't know about Merkel going back to her job it might be a good idea if Gideon Osbourne went back to his, folding towels at Selfridges.
Mind you seeing as he has a 2.1 in Modern History it makes you wonder how he ended up handling the finances of this Country.

- KATE, MANCHESTER, 26/01/2012 16:49
Report abuse

It is all so simple: What took 13 years to get wrong under Labour will take 13 years to get right by the Coalition. In the meantime we suffer as we did in WW2, so get used to it and stop moaning. In the case of the European Union and the Euro, it was never right in the first place 10 years ago and probably never will be unless the big engines in it start firing up and put right what started out as very wrong. Division Four teams playing in the Premier Division? Even a child could tell you that would not work.

- albert hall, hove england, 26/01/2012 16:47
Report abuse

Cameron blasts EU 'tinkering' in euro crisis, to try to take the heat away from the mess he's making out of Britain. By the way the EURO is back on its way up, (from the six pence in drop on the last Anglo American attack before christmas) I'll back the EURO against these twits any days of the week.
(You see cheap EURO makes more exports for Germany, we love those cars)

- Fredrick, London, 26/01/2012 16:47
Report abuse

He may "blast the EU" but I am not sure that there is much that David Cameron can do. He inherited what was probably the greatest economic mess created by a government in modern times. People question the debt but this was created by Blair and Brown and cannot be cured any time soon. He probably knows what needs to be done but will not act as it would cost him the next election.

The situation will slowly get worse until it breaks and the International Money Fund will step in and force the British government to make the necessary cuts which means massively reducing spending on health and benefits. People will squeal like stuck pigs but lavish health and welfare spending is for countries that earn it and the UK is no longer among them.

- Ian, London - UK, 26/01/2012 16:39
Report abuse

Pete/London

This all changed in 1979 when Thatcher came along.

That Pete is exactly what I was saying 1979-1997.

Riots like we have just seen in August of last year.
Industry down the pan. Thatcher the milk snatcher.

Thatcher changed it alright and unfortunatly people of this Country are now paying the price.

- KATE, MANCHESTER, 26/01/2012 16:38
Report abuse

Jo, Kilburn. I can see you have all the makings of an economics graduate. The reason the debt has risen to 1 trillion is that we have to borrow money to pay the interest on the previous debt as well as pay for those nice little earners the labour govt kept off the balance sheet, because it wasn't borrowings in the strict sense of the word.
To that end, we have a new hospital up here, opened by that wonderful magician Tony Blair under his PFI rules, that is close to bankruptcy. This is because they hospital chiefs have to pay the owners of the hospital, the PFI builders, before any on person is treated in the hospital. It was easier under Blair/Brown to borrow a couple of million to run the damned place than it was to borro 400 million to build it. Now that is criminal. They also wasted billions on failed IT projects and the like without anyone being held to accoun.
Now the other side of the coin is that the current govt are still in favour of PFI, with the same end results, that's stupidity.
Your comment re Japan is also selective. It also has to do with the value of the yen nose diving. Japanese goods therefore became twice or more expensive overnight, we the plebs decided to buy the cheaper Korean stuff, hence the down turn in Japan's economy.
There is also the problem of the European banks who have, at the last time I looked, ove 500 billion euros stashed with the ECB, because it's safer there than lending it to other banks
Not quite as simple as you try to make out.

- alan, Carlisle, 26/01/2012 16:20
Report abuse

The sooner Merkle goes back to her proper job - cleaning house and stacking shelves in Aldi the sooner the euro and the eu can be disbanded.

- Vince London, West London, 26/01/2012 16:08
Report abuse

Without realising it Dave has summarised the whole eurozone farce: It was set up so as to make it inevitable that the industrious and prudent e.g, Germany, would be expected to bail out the traditionally lazy and feckless, e.g, Greece, when the latter run out of mugs to borrow yet more money from. It was only a matter of time. If the Germans & Co do not feel inclined to do the needful (understandable, I think) the eurozone scam- doomed from the start- collapses.

- len moss, brighton, 26/01/2012 15:43
Report abuse

When Thatcher came in it was government debt that she needed to attack, but had te underlying benefit of North Sea Oil, which was squandered on tax cuts and political freebies.
Brown's downfall started when he tried to suggest that boom and bust were over and I reckon belived it.
What Messrs Cameron and Osborne aren't doing is explain why at the last election they were only too happy to keep all Labours spending plans. Where were they before the election and what were they saying? Absolutely nothing is the answer just desperate to kill the nasty party image, and that didn't work. We seem to be in a place where spin is taking over from fact and whats clear is that all politicians haven't a clue yuet we constantly fall for their promises.
Given actual government debt is rising not falling and everyone is holding onto ther cash because the banks are insolvent or very near to being supported by cheap cash through quantitive easing Mr Camerons speech is a bit like the board calling the kettle black. All I can say is that my company bank Lloyds has been brilliant with out cash flow issues and they deserve a public thanks.

- Robert Marshall, London, 26/01/2012 15:15
Report abuse

JO, Kilburn,

You conveniently forget to mention that the 1997 Blair government inherited, from the outgoing Conservatives, a UK economy that was in surplus with the best financed private sector pension funds in the world. But in just 13 years Labour managed to tax and ruin 90% of the working populations private pension funds, whilst at the same time turning the UKs balance of trade surplus into a £150bn deficit. It's just 1979 all over again.

- paul, Sutton, 26/01/2012 15:04
Report abuse

@ James, Ewell

James, please answer this... After 2 years of swingeing cuts, why has public borrowing reached its highest level ever of £1 trillion? Why is growth flatlining below all predictions? Why are more and more people out of work? In 2010, the opposite was true in every case. Doesn't that just ring the odd alarm bell for you???

- JO, Kilburn, 26/01/2012 14:44
Report abuse

Graham if you thought that was bad you should have been around during the 17 previous years of the Tories.

KATE, MANCHESTER,

I was around before the start of the 17 years of the Conservative government. Under Labours Denis Healy and big Jim Callaghan there was the 3 day week, homes and businesses were without electricity for substantial parts of the day and night, whilst the NUM, and it's sister Unions, held the country to ransom with wildcat strikes and secondary picketing that prevented fuel and essential supplies being delivered to hospitals, shops and homes. At the same time there were piles of uncollected rubbish stacked car high in streets across the whole country for months on end. Whislt ordinary families were unable to bury their recently deceased loved ones. And to cap it all the Labour government had to call in the IMF to bail out and run the country. This all changed in 1979 when Mrs Thatcher was elected, and just like today a Conservative government has been left to clear up the mess left by another disasterous Labour governments time in office.

- pete, London SW, 26/01/2012 14:38
Report abuse

@ Kate, Manchester

I am so pleased that you too remember the destruction that the Tories brought to this country. What is even more amazing is that in spite of having to rebuild hospitals, schools and our whole public service infrastructure, Labour had lower public spending as a percentage of GDP than either Thatcher or Major. In addition, they brought back in the minimum wage, introduce no quibble winter fuel allowances for pensioners and dropped the basic rate of tax below that of any Tory government. It's very sad how quickly people forget what was done for them.

- JO, Kilburn, 26/01/2012 14:36
Report abuse

Labour spent 13 years squandering a sound economic foundation, so sound that Gordon Brown as Chancellor made no changes to the Tories economic plan for his first two years in office. After that he pursued reckless albeit populist policies of spending money we didn't have on non-productive economic policies. When the money ran out, and he had sold our gold reserves and raided the pension funds, he then borrowed and kept on borrowing.
As for getting out of the the 2008 recession, it doesn't take an economic genius to just keep borrowing and spending to buy the time he hoped would get him re-elected.
It was unsustainable and was never going to be quickly corrected by whoever won the last election. In the final months of the last government they committed the future government to huge unsupportable spending plans in a final act of defiance.
The coalitions efforts are hardly convincing and I'm sure the next few years are going to be very hard, whoever is in power, but can we please move on from the myth that Gordon Brown was some sort of economic messiah ... he wasn't !

- james stephen, Ewell, 26/01/2012 14:26
Report abuse

@ Phil Jones

Actually, Phil, I think we'd better stay firmly in the EU because with the state that Britain is getting into through its own mismanagement, we'll have to go to our 26 European partners within the next 3 years to ask them to bail out the pound. I only hope they'll be gracious enough to overlook the constant xenophobic attacks so many little Britainers make on them.

- JO, Kilburn, 26/01/2012 14:19
Report abuse

If only Cameron were brave enough to make the big move that would really free up the U.K., namely, give the British a say on whether they want to remain part of the dying European experiment or break free of the endless red tape and regulations that stifle British entrepreneurs. Ten billion pounds a year are going out to support the European experiment, and many more billions will be paid via the IMF to support the euro currency union that is in its death throes. Cameron is highly critical of the E.U. So why does the U.K. remain within it? Let us have our IN/OUT referendum on the E.U.

- Phil Jones, London EU, 26/01/2012 14:00
Report abuse

Sorry Ken, not only have things not improved over the last the two years, they have got a lot, lot worse and there aren't any set of figures that will tell you they haven't. Did you see the recent interview with a former Japanese Finance minister who talked about the policy mistakes they made that kept Japan in a spiral of recession for over ten years? He was asked what policy mistakes had caused this and, he replied, "the same ones that Britain is taking now." Maybe we should listen to and learn from the those with experience.

- JO, Kilburn, 26/01/2012 13:58
Report abuse

Graham/London

RE: 13 long years of absurd Labour.

Graham if you thought that was bad you should have been around during the 17 previous years of the Tories. Hospitals/Wards closed, Schools in disrepair, not enough Police on our streets, the list is endless hence the landslide to Labour. Now all these come at a cost so it appears voters want their cake and eat it.

- KATE, MANCHESTER, 26/01/2012 13:55
Report abuse

Sorry Jo, the disgusting mess HE got us in??? 14 years of shocking Labour mismanagement that will probably take another 15 years to fix. I appreciate things haven't been fixed in two years but what did you expect? Carry on as normal and be a basket case country like Greece? The independent organisations like the IMF approve of what the UK is trying to do - balance the Country's books. The problem is that the great vanity project that is the EU is preventing a prompt recovery in the region. Hence DC telling the once Blair cronies to get their ducks in a row. You want to see an end to this financial misery? Well the political elite need to stop the waffle and get on with it. Makes a whole lot of sense to me..

- Ken, UK, 26/01/2012 13:49
Report abuse

Graham in London.

These coalition muppets have had 2 years and, in that time, have merely managed to create even more debt through increased public spending, flat-lined growth and put the country on the verge of another recession. That's hardly a measure of success, is it? At least Labour had growth running at 3.4% and taken us out of recession by the time they lost the election.

- JO, Kilburn, 26/01/2012 13:48
Report abuse

If you dont like it Davy boy and want investment in Britain dont just shout and rant about it, pull us out!

- Tel:, Chelmsford:, 26/01/2012 13:35
Report abuse

Jo in kilburn
To coin Hamiltons phrase, you may have hit the nail on the head, but I think you have the wrong nail. 13 long years of absurd labour spending and social policies have transformed a healthy economy into a basket case, which the coalition are now trying to rectify. Liam Burns letter said it all- there was indeed no money left, and the Eurozone needs to get its act together.

- graham, london, 26/01/2012 12:58
Report abuse

Jo of Kilburn has hit the nail right on the head.This buffoon goes over there and waffles on about how they should do things,yet the entire time he's here he's thinking up more ways to save money so he can give it to all the despots around the world. He does this so as he'll be remembered in history as the man who was very close to Nero.,He was said to have fiddled while Rome Burned. Where as Cameron gave all our money away and made us all Bankrupt, he's doing quite well so far.

- Hamilton Straker, Ealing West London., 26/01/2012 12:38
Report abuse

Cameron has done nothing in the two years in charge,except U-TURN at every policy suggested.Before elected he promised to reduce the number of MPs,we are still waiting.He promised to maintain frontline services,then chose to protect top jobs instead and destroy front line services.He promised a fairer society for all,but only the top earners have got increases in this time.Now he wants MPs to be given more money for failing this country.He needs to sort out his own backyard before mouthing off at other countries.He is the weakest PM this country has ever had and should resign.

- dave, london, 26/01/2012 12:35
Report abuse

Dave should pick on someone his own size; he'd be flattened by Angela. Not the best time to be a Europhobe especially as Europe will have to bale out Britain in the near future.

- dhan raj, basildon, 26/01/2012 12:21
Report abuse

What a criminal waste of billions by Merkel & Sarkozy to support the unsupportable. The truth has to be faced and the Eurozone reset so that it can work. With Greece etc there can only be more billions wasted. how stupid can you get.

- edwin, beaconsfield, buckinghamshire, 26/01/2012 12:20
Report abuse

Perhaps the idiot should focus on trying to sort out the disgusting mess he's got Britain into rather than trying to lecture others on how to manage the financial crisis. Pot calling the kettle black!

- Jo, Kilburn, 26/01/2012 12:20
Report abuse

"This is a time to show the leadership our people are demanding," he urged.

When are you planning to make a start, Dave? Stop hiding under your desk.

- John Smith, London, EUSSR, 26/01/2012 12:16
Report abuse

Add your comment

http://politics.standard.co.uk