Fox in the headless chicken house: good speech to the IEA today. Here is what he said in full. So, "Liam Fox urges spending freeze" (a freeze? Surely there were already cuts?) [BBC]
"Mr Fox's proposed freeze on all public spending - as against the current freeze for Whitehall departmental budgets - would cut spending in real terms by 2.5% a year. The current plan is for a 1% annual cut."Ah. And, my favourite bit of his speech;
"We are all familiar with the issue and history of debt. In 1997 Labour inherited a balanced budget on coming to office – indeed, it was a budget that was set to move into surplus...I live in hope: the pike is sharpened; the city gates in view. More from Thomas Pascoe reporting [DT], "Dr Liam Fox is absolutely right when it comes to Labour's legacy of debt".
...To make matters worse, the panic spending that Gordon Brown embarked upon in order to try to avoid his impending defeat, set a trajectory for spending that would see debts continue to mount at an alarming rate.
Even with the coalition Government’s deficit reduction plans - which the current Labour leader has attended Trade Union rallies to protest against - the national debt will reach £1.4 trillion in 2015.
History will judge Gordon Brown and his disciples harshly."
"They spent with abandon, rolling out the Socialist vision of a big state. But much worse; rather than diminishing the reliance that individuals have on the state, they purposely pushed the drug of welfare addiction to more and more people, ensnaring even the affluent middle classes... ..The expansion of welfare addiction is one of the most corrosive effects of socialism and it must not only be neutralised, but reversed."However, many weren't impressed.
2 comments:
Apart from the bits you have picked out the rest of his speech could have been from any Conservative politician between 1979 and 1997, it's very old in that respect, in fact some of his proposals were actually part of the Conservative manifesto in 1997. I am a bit concerned that, if you read the speech in full, it comes across as a lesson in cutting benefits on one hand whilst cutting taxes for the wealthy on the other.
One of the reasons why CGT take is down is because people have lost money, as I think he acknowledges in passing, we must also try and get away from the habit of investing for short term gains. Instead of abandoning CGT for 3-5 years why not abandon it in cases where assets are held for 3-5 years, encourage investment rather than encouraging legitimate tax avoidance!
I think most people would agree about reducing levels of bureaucracy unfortunately cutting jobs on one hand only leads to replacing them on the other as the Coalition is investing millions in chasing tax evaders which in turn is leading to more jobs - there doesn't seem to be a win win situation.
I think it is probably the type of speech, along with Theresa May's at the weekend that the traditional right of the party will appreciate although given Lord Ashcroft's findings last week it is probably too little too late to prevent a huge defeat in 2015.
Mind you I seem to remember having a discussion in 2010 about the Conservative's not winning in 2015 but coming back stronger five years later.
Yes, I had exactly the same thought (looked like old Conservative stuff) plus it had so much anti Brown so of course I liked it.
Also agree re it being too late; Cameron has turned into a liberal wet, at first I though he was hamstrung by the yellow albatross round his neck (well he is) but to be honest he acts like the left wing of the Lib Dems.
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