Nothing could underline more vividly the political irrelevance of Gordon Brown than this morning’s economic news.
Inflation has jumped from 1.9 per cent in November to 2.9 in December – the largest rise on record. Mervyn King has warned that it may rise above 3 per cent, and that the patience of Britons will be “sorely tried”, with stagnant pay levels causing a real-terms decline in living standards.
Meanwhile, Fitch, the credit ratings agency, says that Government plans to halve the deficit in four years are too timid and that it is looking for more positive proposals to cut spending, failing which the UK’s triple-A credit rating will be threatened.
Peter Mandelson understands that there must be deep cuts in expenditure: he has warned that Britain and Europe face a period of “rapid relative economic decline” if governments fail to reduce spending.
Alistair Darling realises that, too: he is to propose spending reductions of around 17 per cent in areas outside health, policing and international aid.
And all the while, Downing Street is haunted by the poor, deluded ghost of a Prime Minister, still gibbering distractedly about “Labour investment” while the real world gets on with real life.
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I think that all of this negative news with today’s unemployment figures on top mean a March election is pretty much dead and maybe even a May election.
Inflation, interest rates, credit ratings and unemployment. June election?
David, the inflation increase was totally predictable and expected. Fuel collapsed last year, and this year has bounced back. And the collapse of sterling is finally working it way in to pricing. It will of course bounce even higher next month with the Vat change.
Whilst I am totally convinced that all except the most diehard will find it impossible to vote Labour at the election, giving the tories a massive majority, Labour are grasping to their last hope. If the reduce expectations of Brown and government so low that even they manage to exceed them, will voters then feel that at least they are doing as well as expected?
Regretfully I didnt think that “Dave” did to well at PMQ.Betty W.did a bit of crawling but did not contribute anything to the debate.
Brown is a dead man walking
After 12 years of Labour mismanagement, has David Cameron really managed to spell out the essential drastic action required to clear the mess up, or is he afraid of losing votes by giving a true outline of the unpalatble stringencies which must follow the election?
But then, I don’t suppose Maggie gave much of a hint about the hard decisions taken, and kept, to clean up after the Labour (and unions) debacle of the 70′s prior to the election of 1979. I think it all depends on spin rather than hard facts now days.
I agree, Gordon Brown and the Labour Government (sic) are finished but we look to the Conservatives to offer real leadership both locally and nationally. At local level I am hoping David Jones MP really gets the legal issue of Colwyn Bay Pier resolved – we have had the public meeting now let’s see what our MP can do in moving this forward – strong leadership is essential.