Any other Lib Dems feeling the slightest bit hypocritical today ?

I was looking back at the poster launched by the Lib Dems at the start of the election campaign less than three months ago and, from my own moral compass, I feel something of a hypocrite having delivered leaflets with this message on only to find three months later that a Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury was presiding over the "VAT Bombshell" the Lib Dems were warning about.

Taking a more measured view, I do find it hard to argue against a large chunk of the budget today. Quite clearly Labour have been running this country on the basis of chucking everything on to a credit card, which in many ways was the reason this country got in to such a mess in the fist place with the proliferation of cheap credit and a lack of control on spending and lending.


However, the fact that the Lib Dems are now having to share power ought to make Lib Dem strategists think twice in future elections about the kind of messages they want to put out during an election and to what extent these campaigns (as in the VAT Bombshell posters) cheapens politics. I know all parties do it, but we need to be honest enough to say we won't in future.


For those who are unaware of my stance towards the coalition, I have been clear in my view (and expressed this to MPs, the printed press and in Radio interviews) that I am no supporter of the coalition deal with the Tories. I don't want to go over the old ground of this, but I thought I should make this clear.

Should we be at all surprised ?

So after the budget we are all worse off. Any surprises in that ? I would hope not. The fact is this country's finances are in a mess and more needs to be done about it. The problem we have is that nobody trusts the Labour government to do anything about it and finding anyone who has any real faith in the Tory alternative, George "Gideon" Osborne is like looking for needle in a haystack.

The long and the short of it is that the one person people do trust to tell the truth is Lib Dem shadow chancellor Vince Cable and the only way you will get him in number 11 Downing Street is to vote Lib Dem.

In the meantime, take with a pinch off salt the fake shock from the Tory press that the budget has left people worse off. To deny that the budget would be anything other than one that would make us all poorer in the short term is the very worst kind of politics, but something that the likes of the Daily Mail indulges in every day.

Taking Labour's Bitter Pill Will Not Make Us Better

To hear Labour big guns being rolled out to speak to the press over and over again over the last two days since the pre budget report has been a lesson in how to sound if you have run out of ideas.

In the last 24 hours I have heard Alistair Darling, Jack Straw and the quite awful Ed Balls all defending the PBR on the simple basis that "the Tories would be worse". This quite pathetic defence just highlight how vaccuous Labour are now and how utterly bankrupt they are in the ideas department.

So what will the polls make of it ? I cannot see anoything other than a decline in Labour's support on the basis that the PBR was not good for most people and it actually fails to address the urgent needs of the country.

People an accept a bitter pill if it will make you better. But as the BBC reports tonight, Labour's measures will do nothing to solve the crisis in the public finances whilst everyone will be feeling the pinch.

Another budget cock up the government hadn't worked out

The rise in the level of fuel duty to supposedly counter balance the cut in VAT might make sense to someone who has no understanding of economics or the tax system, but to any expert, the are obvious problems.

A good example is for some specialist hauliers and other business people who are able to reclaim the VAT on their fuel. Now those of you who have a brain will already be ahead of me here and have twigged that the 2.5% VAT cut means that they cannot reclaim this money,, but they will still pay it because 2.5% has been added to fuel duty.

So in effect this is a tax rise.

What a shame that Labour cannot see what is obvious to everyone else.

The utter stupidity of Labour's solution to the 10p tax crisis

This afternoon Labour let the press know that they had a partial solution to the crisis within Labour ranks over the abolishing of the 10p tax rate.

In response to serious concerns that 5.3 million people would be worse off under these tax proposals. with the vast bulk of these being people earning less than £18,000 a year, the Labour government were going to extend the remit of an existing investigation in to poverty to look at the causes of poverty of those earning less than £18,000 each year.

So in layman's terms, due to Labour making people earning less than £18K a year poorer, Labour want to investigate why people earning less than £18K a year are poorer.

Is it me or am I missing something?

You see, I think I actually have the answer to the question and we don't need to hold any sort of enquiry or start any sort of investigation. As far as I can tell the reason these people are poorer is because of Labour's budget.

Absolutely incredible.

Due to my illness ...

I shall not be commenting on the budget other than to say it was all I expected, and a lot less.

Let's face it, Gordon Brown crapped in his own garden last year by announcing several measures one year in advance thus ensuring that Alistair Darling wouldn't have the honour of announcing the tax cuts, but would take the blame for the tax rises.

Yes, that's the sort of man Gordon Brown is. Wise up to him quickly folks.

How many times will Alistair Darling re-announce things from the 2007 budget on budget day this year ?

Much like most fly on the wall type documentaries like Wife Swap. Location Location Location and You Are What You Eat, the Labour Party do like to repeat the same point over and over again just in case you miss something, or in many cases to patronise.

The lifestyle shows I mentioned always tell you what will happen, then before every break tell you what will happen next followed by a return after the break telling you what has already happened, before the whole process is repeated again, meaning that in any 30 minute programme, there is actually only about 12 minutes of programme, the rest is just resumes and reminders. As so it is for Labour.

Gordon brown has a terrible tendency to re announce policies year after year just in case we are stupid enough not to remember and there is little reason to believe that Alistair Darling is any different.

So how many times will they mention this year that income tax will be cut by 2% ? How many mentions will the rise in inheritance tax get ? Remember, these were announced last year. But what will they forget to mention ? I doubt that the axing of the 10% tax band will get as many mentions as the income tax cut of 2%. Likewise, you can expect a re-announcing of the increase in ISA limits that were first announced last year.

I'd love to be surprised and not hear another set of recycled announcements, but alas, after 11 years in government it all sounds so tired from Labour.

Jam tomorrow - The foolish politics of future promises

I cannot help feeling that Gordon Brown has made a massive mistake in delaying his 2p tax cut for 13 months, at least if my reaction is anything to go by.

One of the cleaners had the radio on as I left work, and I commented "Oh good, I could do with the money with a child on the way". She responded "The tax cut isn't happening for a year though", and instantly within me, any feeling of pleasure was gone. The problem is that being told you are going to be given something unexpected is always a bit of a thrill. But when you know you are going to receive something a long way off, you actually come to expect it, indeed by the time you receive it you actually believe you've earned it and that it is not really a gift at all.

Brown obviously thinks that in 13 months time we will all be pleased as punch and be very grateful to him. I simply don't think that is true. I will already be planning for the little extra I receive in April 2008, but equally be will be showing my disdain for him in the meantime as I guess teachers, like local government workers can expect a pay cut in real terms this year.

If the tax cut had been this year then I think he could have seen some benefit electorally, as it is, it is for the Labour party a wasted opportunity.