Give A Little Whistle

Last week the prime minister was caught lying, he had told the House of Commons that infrastructure spending by the government would rise until the Olympics and only then fall back.

The truth, as pointed out by David Cameron from the Treasury’s own documents, is that such spending will peak this year and then fall each year, halving by 2013. The prime minister was dishonest and there is going to be a lot more of that over the next 12 months.



The Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling has successfully fought off an attempt by the prime minister to move him aside and he should use his new-found independence to be straight with voters. The public sector is bloated and inefficient. Voters are seeing cuts in the private sector and expect the state to trim its spending, too.

The chancellor should force other ministers to abandon the nonsense of “investment versus cuts” and have the courage to engage in honest debate. If Labour believes it can manage public services better through an era of fiscal austerity, it should make that case. Its current position is dishonest and untenable.
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