Such is the intensity of Con Dem propaganda about the 'profligacy' of Labour Governments prior to 2010, it's often forgotten that Labour's 1997 General Election contained a manifesto pledge to accept Tory spending plans for its first two years in office. As the next election draws closer, there are conflicting reports about Labour's plans for 2015 onwards. Yesterday's Independent ran a
welcome report that 'Ed Miliband and Ed Balls will reject the more cautious approach – adopted by Tony Blair in 1997 – of sticking to the Tory government’s public spending limits in favour of a “new economic settlement” for Britain.'
The TUC Touchstone blog examines alternative
'fiscal frameworks and spending plans' and exposes the current 'never never land' of Chancellor Osborne, where despite stringent austerity measures the structural deficit reduction targets are continuously rolled forward – ‘a recipe for continual austerity.' The TUC is clear that signing up to the current fiscal plans would be 'signing up to a fiscal framework that has failed to reduce the deficit anywhere as much as promised, that binds in tight austerity, that is targeting the wrong measure and that is subject to heavy revision.'
