Editor's Blog9 mins ago
PROMISES PROMISES
George Osborne yesterday insisted he could cut taxes and the deficit without raising VAT.
The Shadow Chancellor tried to see off Labour claims that he would be forced into an urgent tax rise to make his sums add up. "We have set out our plans and they do not involve an increase in VAT," he told BBC Radio 4's The World at One.
Also, George Osborne was accused of spending money that does not exist as his promise to fund new cancer drugs was questioned by a leading health think tank. Professor John Appleby, chief economist of the King's Fund, said the Tories were indulging in a “sleight of hand” in pledging to spend £200 million a year on licensed drugs that have yet to be approved by National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, (NICE), the medicines advisory board.
Under Tory plans, the money would come from savings the NHS would realise as an employer from Mr Osborne’s plans to increase national insurance by less than Labour in 2011.
Wonderful Promises from George Osborne but are they really credible or just desperate empty election bluster when we are facing having to repay a rapidly rising National Debt that will well exceed £1Trillion over the next 4 years ?
The Shadow Chancellor tried to see off Labour claims that he would be forced into an urgent tax rise to make his sums add up. "We have set out our plans and they do not involve an increase in VAT," he told BBC Radio 4's The World at One.
Also, George Osborne was accused of spending money that does not exist as his promise to fund new cancer drugs was questioned by a leading health think tank. Professor John Appleby, chief economist of the King's Fund, said the Tories were indulging in a “sleight of hand” in pledging to spend £200 million a year on licensed drugs that have yet to be approved by National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, (NICE), the medicines advisory board.
Under Tory plans, the money would come from savings the NHS would realise as an employer from Mr Osborne’s plans to increase national insurance by less than Labour in 2011.
Wonderful Promises from George Osborne but are they really credible or just desperate empty election bluster when we are facing having to repay a rapidly rising National Debt that will well exceed £1Trillion over the next 4 years ?
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Whatever happened to the Age of Austerity that Cameron was telling us about for the last year?
// A Conservative government would usher in a new "age of austerity" David Cameron said today.
"Over the next few years, we will have to take some incredibly tough decisions on taxation, spending and borrowing – things that really affect people's lives," Cameron warned.
The age of austerity demanded responsible politics, he said.
http://www.guardian.c...tive-economic-policy1
When the public rejected this message and the Tories were losing points in the opinion polls, they changed their tune and began promising tax cuts and spending on expensive drugs, and no cuts to services for a year, all paid for with fantasy money they are calling efficiency savings.
In short they have made a massive U-turn, and they are making up promises on the hoof without any real idea of how we will pay for them.
// A Conservative government would usher in a new "age of austerity" David Cameron said today.
"Over the next few years, we will have to take some incredibly tough decisions on taxation, spending and borrowing – things that really affect people's lives," Cameron warned.
The age of austerity demanded responsible politics, he said.
http://www.guardian.c...tive-economic-policy1
When the public rejected this message and the Tories were losing points in the opinion polls, they changed their tune and began promising tax cuts and spending on expensive drugs, and no cuts to services for a year, all paid for with fantasy money they are calling efficiency savings.
In short they have made a massive U-turn, and they are making up promises on the hoof without any real idea of how we will pay for them.
-- answer removed --
When you get your final demand for a household bill do you pay up promptly or spend it on urgent repairs on your car to take you to work? By delaying payment means it will be much more expensive in the long run and you would have to work extra to pay for the default.
Government finances are the same but on a larger scale.
Government finances are the same but on a larger scale.
// The Kings Fund have been forced to withdraw their inaccurrate statement. //
No they have not. This is what they said, and they have not withdrawn it...
// In a statement, the King’s Fund, the health policy body, said: “As this increase has not yet been implemented, and, given other pressures on the NHS budget, the £200 million funding would need to be generated by planned cash-releasing efficiency savings.”
Professor John Appleby, the fund’s chief economist, called the policy a “sleight of hand” but later insisted that he had not meant to suggest that the Tories were being dishonest.
//
No they have not. This is what they said, and they have not withdrawn it...
// In a statement, the King’s Fund, the health policy body, said: “As this increase has not yet been implemented, and, given other pressures on the NHS budget, the £200 million funding would need to be generated by planned cash-releasing efficiency savings.”
Professor John Appleby, the fund’s chief economist, called the policy a “sleight of hand” but later insisted that he had not meant to suggest that the Tories were being dishonest.
//
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