In today’s Telegraph, Danny Alexander is ebullient about the signs of economic recovery. He says this revival would not be happening without the Lib Dems.
The decision of Lib Dems to form the coalition is the bedrock on which the recovery is being built. Without a government prepared to do the right thing to tackle the deficit and support job creation the progress we are starting to see would simply not have happened.
Some people thought the Lib Dems wouldn’t stick at it. Now they know different. We’ve worked with the Conservatives, not just to take tough decisions, but to make the right decisions for the long term good of Britain.
Danny attacks Labour:
Labour would like to airbrush away the catastrophic economic mess they made.
And then he argues the case for the centre ground.
Britain is strongest when it is governed from the centre ground, by a government that is able to be radical, but never extreme. There will be plenty more difficult choices to come to ensure Britain can pay its way. Liberal Democrats will never flinch from doing the right thing to make sure we have a stronger economy in a fairer society, so that everyone has the chance to get on in life.
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9 Comments
The emphasis should progressively shift to the ‘Fairer society’ agenda. Prime among that is first, ensuring the minimum is enforced and second, that the minimum wage is increased, because the biggest danger to the recovery is the continuing lagging of incomes behind prices.
It’s amusing to watch the Lib Dems and Tories crow because, finally, after three long years the economy has managed to squeeze out a quarter of growth that matches up to the level of growth they inherited. This isn’t a victory or vindication; it’s a terrible indictment of the catastrophic failure of the coalition economic policies. They flatlined the economy for three long years; they should be apologising not bragging. This is too little, too late.
@Jack
The difference is that it is now growth accompanied by debt repayment, as opposed to growth fuelled by excessive borrowing.
@Jack
But who is repaying the debt? Not those who caused it, I fear, nor need we had to. Anyway with the economy apparently running 2% behind its pre-austerity level, we might be tempted to feel that wrecking it in the first place and then boasting about a little repair-work is hardly a success.
@Dave Simpson
“The difference is that it is now growth accompanied by debt repayment, as opposed to growth fuelled by excessive borrowing.”
What are you talking about? The coalition has not repaid any debt – there is still a huge deficit, so the debt is going up all the time.
@Stuart Mitchell :
“The coalition has not repaid any debt – there is still a huge deficit, so the debt is going up all the time.”
Quite right, we have growth associated with reduction of deficit (the rate of increase in debt) which Labour used to fuel pretend growth.
Good article
The idea that the conservatives (or the right in general) are better at managing the economy is a dangerous myth which needs to be dispelled.
The Conservatives only rediscovered fiscal prudence a few months before the 2010 election. Before that they were supporting labours borrowing and calling for even looser policy through tax cats. There is still evidence that the lesson has not been fully learned eg the subsidy to housebuyers which will hold up vastly inflated house prices and stoke another boom. Under the tories (and copycat new labour), people were often making far more money speculating on the property market than doing a “real” job
The truth is that the Conservatives are not good at managing the the economy, what they are expert at is managing the media, particularly with the help of the mates such as Murdoch etc.
@Tony Dawson
“Pretend growth” is what the Coalition gives us: higher prices for existing houses and land, higher dividends, supposed investment by Tibetenising our economy and hollowig out our productive sectors. The bogus nonsense of “neoclassical economics” is pedalled by pundits apparently totally ignrant of the philosophical and social elements of economics, and of the Keyenesian revolution, with its decisive debunking of automatic long-term equilibrium etc. Debt-money is created by the banking system wthout even fractional cash reserves, so the City multiplies unrepayable debt by the trillion by re-hypothecating deposits (i.e lending the same deposits again and again to borrowers without any counterparty liability).This bogus debt mountain gives financial manipulators clams on our real assets which they use to strip us of resources and to relocate production to cheap labour or low social commitment areas; while driving down earned incomes so our own people are turned into the working poor, subsidised by taxpayers to the advantagte of pay-day loan profiteers who back the Tories with substantial donations as it appears.. There is not even a high (80% plus) tax on distributed profits to encourage reinvesttment here and euthanase the rentiers!
Reduction in the nation’s overall debt growth ? A fantasy!
What does radical but never extreme mean ? What does governing from the centre ground mean ? Since when has doing the right thing been a tough decision ?
If deficit reduction is a priority, its not going very well. If closing tax loopholes is a priority, its not being delivered.