Those 'cuts'

In the 1980s I remember as a 6th Form Economics scholar complaining every time someone attacked the Tory Cuts, that they weren't cuts just reductions in planned increases. It was a point that the Conservatives didn't seem to try too hard to make and that the BBC would not allow to be made anyway. So I was not surprised to read John Redwood explain that:

' According to this year’s budget plans, public current spending will rise from £600.6 billion in 2009-10, the last Labour year, to £692.7 billion in 2014-15, the last planned year of the Coalition government in this Parliament. That’s a rise of £92.7 billion, or more than 15%: a rise of £1500 for every man,woman and child in the UK.

Total spending including capital will rise from £669.3 billion in 2009-10 to £737.5 billion, a rise of £68.2 billion. This shows that capital spending will be cut, according to the plans inherited from the last Labour government which the Coalition government has accepted.'

History would appear to repeating itself and John Redwood made that point on Newsnight last night when he apparently:

'flummoxed Kirsty Walk when he said that the government was not cutting public expenditure. She didn’t really know where to go with her line of questioning since it was so off her script. The BBC weltanschauung is that we will soon be seeing massive and terrible cuts in government spending which will provide endless material of the grinding down the poor and vulnerable kind for them.'

Unblocking the credit blockage

Take a watch of Thursday's Newsnight and see how you feel it goes. Angela Eagle for the Labour "government" complete with stock phrases and digs at Conservative "cuts", Vince Cable for the Lib Dems and the BBC world view and John Redwood for the Conservatives and common-sense. Oh and I nearly forgot the Labour insider Kirsty Wark on-hand to see "fair play".

John Redwood does his best despite being heavily outnumbered and comes over far better and convincing than George Osborne. Here is John Redwood's take on the interview. Angela Eagle seems, understandably, not to have alerted her constituents to her Newsnight appearance. Vince Cable hasn't mentioned his appearance either, but since he is hardly off the BBC I suppose mentioning every appearance might seem excessive.

Maybe John Redwood could become Shadow Chancellor and George Osborne something more suited to his TV-unfriendly "toff" image in a pre-election Conservative re-shuffle.