Tim Farron writes:
This was a deeply political budget from a deeply political Chancellor. It looks good in the theatrics of the Commons, with Labour divided, weak and inept, but the budget will unravel.
It will unravel in schools next year when they see funding slashed; it will unravel when local councils have to cut services and increase taxes just to get by; and it will unravel when projects can’t be built because of the skills shortage caused by the attack on further education.
The brighter outlook has given Osborne room for manoeuvre, yet he continues an ideological crusade to slash spending and attack working families on welfare.
Today, was supposed to be a Long Term economic plan, but it was a short term economic scam.
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13 Comments
Glad to see Tim’s response, but again, this looks like an article cut off in its prime. Is that all he said? Where did he say it? Will these articles ever have a close-speech mark?
Just watched the BBC Six O’Clock News and no comment from us.
Surely he could have come up with more than that. Does the party actually have something constructive to say? It doesn’t look like it on this evidence.
two things i am delighted about:
1. total government spending is heading (further) south of 40% of GDP
2. defence remains at 2.0% of defence
by all means spend what remains on the most socially helpful and economically advantageous measures we can devise.
I’m not sure where Tim got his information from regarding further education, but relatively speaking things are much better than was feared. See for instance the press release of the Association of Colleges which speaks for FE colleges.
https://www.aoc.co.uk/news/huge-relief-after-spending-review-announcement
I think the Association of Colleges are saying it could be much worse. Having your core funding rate protected in cash terms means that it will be eroded by inflation each and every year of this Parliament.
but you are not right, Graham Evans, where are all the young plumbers, plasterers, carpenters, electricians, roofers, bricklayers, etc. who are going to build the houses Osborne says he is going to fund. ?
That is another thing that will totally unravel, the house-builders have got sites ready to go, but there are just not enough trades to get the work done, because of past cuts, (and because generations of school-leavers having been encouraged to go into ‘clean’ work by their academic advisors).
Who Osborne will blame when the houses don’t get built? It will be the councils, and it will then be used as a pretext for further stripping away of planning and building controls.. wait and see.
There is no opposition to Osbourne. The Guardian states that “Labour had a chance to set out a coherent alternative to austerity, and muffed it because it still does not have one”
We muffed it big time, Tim’s weak statement on this post is the only comment I have seen from us. Where is the statement on our web site? Where are the press releases sent out to every local party? Where are the letters to the media from our spokesperson? Nothing but silence, and not just on this issue.
On 19th November Tim gave a speech on the economy. This needs to be brought up to date and published today. It needs to be less of an attack on the other parties and more of a promotion of our alternative policies.
Until our leadership and HQ wake up to the need to use every avenue available to promote Lib Dem policies we will languish at he bottom of the opinion polls
There used to be an automatic response in the Commons. What happened this time?
Surely we should be concentrating on the U turn on tax credits – first of all welcoming it and secondly pointing out that the outcome follows precisely the Lib Dem initiative in the House of Lords which went beyond the Labour demand for moderating it and went straight for completely ditching it.
Yes Denis (Loretto) 100% correct, but can you see any sign of our Leaders of this silent party making any positive statement on anything. Still nothing on the web site 24 hours after the announcement in the commons.
Peter, I believe it’s worse than that. There is a shortage of bricks for bricklayers to lay. David Blake Tim was on the 10 o clock news givIng a short statement but we aren’t the third party any more so I thought that was better than we might have expected.
Peter Tyzack .The national house builders have been land banking for years they will not proceed until they believe they will make a significant profit from their land assets .Where will the labour come from ? EU migration imported when the time and price is right for the national builders. Despite all of Osbourns manipulation of the planning system and the close financial ties to the conservative party they have not taken up significant sites which are shovel ready and have been so since 2011 .that’s why some of us support a “use it or lose it “clauses in outline planning permissions.If we could kick start house building then the council tax raised would do much to support continued local service provision and infrastructure improvement.