Darling tells us Labour cuts will be tougher and deeper than Thatchers

Graham_Devon

Rather big news. Expect this one to dissapear soon, or a retraction of the statement, unless labour have taken the wise decision to actually be honest.

Alistair Darling has conceded that if Labour is re-elected public spending cuts will be "tougher and deeper" than those implemented by Margaret Thatcher.

Asked by the BBC's Political Editor Nick Robinson to accept the Treasury's own figures suggest deeper, tougher cuts than those implemented by the Thatcher government in the 1980s, Mr Darling replied: "They will be deeper and tougher - where we make the precise comparison I think is secondary to fact is an acknowledgement that these reductions will be tough".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8587877.stm

Pretty bold, and rather brave statement from Darling.

Glad to actually see a statement of this type tough, i.e. one of reality. Mucho respect Alistairs way from me!

Spartacus_Mills

I am sure some drone or party apparatchik will be along to tell us what Darling actually meant.

I do like Alistair Darling. He has an integrity and honesty that many on the Labour benches lack. He tells us it like it is. I am sure that if Labour wins he will be canned in favour of blinky Balls and relegated to the back benches. That will be a real pity.

peterg1965

Hang on.... we had the budget yesterday and he never mentioned a thing! They really do take us for complete idiots.

I agree that Darling in the acceptable face of New Labour to me. He is not tarnished with the same baggage as the rest of his fellow Cabinet rabble.

tomterm8

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Rather big news. Expect this one to dissapear soon, or a retraction of the statement, unless labour have taken the wise decision to actually be honest.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8587877.stm

Pretty bold, and rather brave statement from Darling.

Glad to actually see a statement of this type tough, i.e. one of reality. Mucho respect Alistairs way from me!

Well, yes. That's what I keep saying. And every time I try to explain how deep the cuts need to be, people treat me like I'm insane. And the torys say they are going to cut even more.

peterg1965 wrote: »

Hang on.... we had the budget yesterday and he never mentioned a thing! They really do take us for complete idiots.
.

They told everyone before the budget happened that the vast majority of the spending cuts would happen in the november spending review, because they wanted to hold off for 6 months to allow the recovery to get stronger.

treliac

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Pretty bold, and rather brave statement from Darling.

Yep! After the election he'll be shoved away to a place where his honesty won't matter any more.

Hope he has the guts to tell it like it is once he's despatched to oblivion.

Graham_Devon

Personally feel we are back to the time where Brown and Darling were arguing amongst themselves, so Darling went and told us all the real truth.

Then retracted it in that forced apology later on.

Of course, darling was right, and what he said was going to happen, pretty much happened.

I reckon behind closed doors, there is massive rows going on. Darling HAS to say something to the markets after pressure today, something to do with gilts, heard something about it on the radio, but not the whole conversation. However, I doubt Brown will like what darling has just basically stated we face, this close to an election, as Thatcher was hated, and often used in labour vs tory arguments.

Will be interesting to see where this story goes, if anywhere.

nickj_2

browns continuing spending plans are what he needs to keep in power regardless of the consequnces to the country , darling knows that there needs to be cuts brown i presume knows this as well but will put himself before anything else

aelitaman

It is because the IFS has been through the detailed figures in the budget and come out with the fact that to make them add up there needs to be 25billion of cuts in 2011 and another 46billion of cuts in 2012 above the cuts darling anounced.

Wookster

peterg1965 wrote: »

Hang on.... we had the budget yesterday and he never mentioned a thing! They really do take us for complete idiots.

I agree that Darling in the acceptable face of New Labour to me. He is not tarnished with the same baggage as the rest of his fellow Cabinet rabble.

He doesn't mention when these cuts kick in!

Cuts seem to fly in the face of everything Labour has done over the last 13 years, not to mention Gordon Brown's "Rise of 0%." I doubt they have the will or where with all to actually make cuts and run a surplus.

Kohoutek

They'll have to bailout the NHS first before they make the cuts:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23816643-pound-85m-debt-hits-london-nhs-trusts-after-huge-overspend.do

NHS trusts in London face debts of more than £85 million despite bail-outs by health bosses, it was revealed today.

At least four acute hospital trusts and two primary care trusts have massively overspent their budgets this financial year, leading to fears patients will suffer as cash is diverted to balance the books.

South London Healthcare NHS trust is expecting a £37.7 million deficit — almost half the total NHS debt in London.

Barking, Havering and Redbridge acute trust forecasts a deficit of £19.7 million and West Middlesex £5.2 million.

NHS London figures reveal others in the red are Enfield at £10.5 million, Sutton and Merton PCT £4.2 million and North West London Hospitals £8.2 million.

Don't forget also the PFI debt, unfunded pension liabilities and 'contingent liabilities'! Any local authorities need bailing out after losing their cash in Iceland?

amcluesent

If Clown/Balls are running the show, the cuts will be organised by the IMF. If Dave gets it, it'll be Tory Boy.

Either way, a decade of Clown's borrow'n'bungle has to be accounted for. Grim, grey, grinding years of austerity lie ahead after the socialists spent everyone else's money.