Securing the Recovery - Not Putting It At Risk
Issue- Economic policy.
Key points
- Responding to a George Osborne briefing on the economy yesterday, Liam Byrne said:
"Our first priority now is to secure the recovery - in contrast to George Osborne's dangerous plan to slam on the brakes."
- The latest IMF report shows that cutting now would risk the recovery - but still Osborne won't tell us how much he plans to cut this year.
- We will more than halve the deficit in four years through growth, fair tax rises and tough choices on public spending, including cuts in some departments. George Osborne repeatedly says this isn't fast enough - but he won't say how fast he plans to do it. If he were to halve the deficit just one year faster than us, it would be equivalent to cutting half the schools budget or putting VAT up to 23 per cent.
- If George Osborne cannot answer even the very basic questions about his spending plans, people will conclude he's not up to the job or he has something to hide.
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