Yesterday, Lib Dem shadow chancellor Vince Cable tabled an innocuous sounding emergency question in the Commons: “To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the proposed sale of Government assets announced today.”
But that’s not the Vince soundbite which has featured in virtually every headline in today’s newspapers reporting on Labour’s decision to sell up to £16 billion of assets to help fund the national debt. Here’s Vince’s statement in full:
Selling off what is left of the family silver is not going to solve the long term problem of Britain’s structural deficit. Asset sales do have a role to play in Britain’s recovery but selling them off now when markets are depressed is not the most prudent way to go.
“With £16bn already pencilled into the budget, if this car boot sale fails to raise the necessary revenue there is a danger that the Government will open up yet another black hole in its finances.
“With the Government acknowledging just 12 months ago that market conditions were not right for the sale of the Tote, concerns must be raised that this dramatic turn around is due to political rather financial considerations.
“What is also worrying is that yet again this Government chose to make a vital policy announcement on television instead of in front of Parliament. With MPs returning to Westminster today, this is crass politicking at its worst. I have secured an urgent question to ensure that the Chancellor comes before the House as a matter of urgency.”
It’s interesting to contrast Vince’s sure-footed attack with the Tories’ not-sure-what-we-think-yet response:
As any family knows selling off things helps in the short-term and, given the state the country is in, is probably necessary but it is no substitute for a long-term plan to get the country to live within its means.”
I’m sure now Vince has given them the lines they needed they’ll be able to spout them word-perfectly from this point on.
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4 Comments
Vince somewhat misses the point – the most outrageous thing is that £13bn of the £16bn are actually someone elses assets – local government’s.
Brown is in effect saying he’s going to steal Manchester Airport (for instance) and use the proceeds to pay off the debt his failed economic policy has racked up.
Can I sell off my neighbour’s house to pay off my mortgage?
Who cares what Cable says now. He is such damaged goods after the fiasco of the Mansion Tax at conference.
“Who cares what Cable says now. He is such damaged goods after the fiasco of the Mansion Tax at conference.”
Hahahaha. No, he isn’t.
Further to Dan’s point. Some Labour spokesman on Newsnight explained this by saying that local government normally sells off £3 million or so pa (this from memory) so this was nothing out of the ordinary.
In other words this is typical Brown; re-announce and double count to get a headline.
One Trackback
[…] (c) tackling the problem directly by making use of our controlling interest in the banks that had to be rescued to MAKE them un-crunch their lending policies, while in the long term looking to break up the super-banks before returning them to the private sector so that they are no longer “too big to fail” (this has the added benefit of raising money to pay off the government’s debts, but not selling up at the bottom of the market!). […]