Douglas Carswell's Blog

Continuity Brown has failed. We need a Conservative approach to the economy

Public sector borrowing is �9 Billion higher now than it was at the same stage last year. July, which normally brings in a surplus for the government, saw a large deficit.

Far from getting public finances under control, this administration seems to be running things pretty much the way Gordon Brown used to.

Brown once talked of "prudence", while running up ruinous debts. Today's Treasury team speaks of "austerity", as they borrow more in five years than Gordon managed in thirteen.

Worse, the government shares the same Brownian notion that growth can be kick started. As under Gordon, the Treasury is so fixated up in the idea that monetary stimulus can engineer growth, they've not seemed to have thought through the alternatives.

It is no use pretending that it is the Lib Dems who have blocked supply side reform. The Treasury hasn't proposed anything much to block.

Any mention of tax cuts is dismissed as irresponsible. "We can't afford unfunded tax cuts" they say.

So why is it, that like Brown, we seem to afford endless unfunded increases in borrowing? Like Brown, we seem willing to run a deficit to pay for more government, but never for less tax.

If you run the economy with the same Brownian assumptions, economically you end up in the same Brownian mess. Politically you achieve the near impossible and begin to make Ed Balls look credible.

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