Darling in Wonderland again (with an eye to the next election)

Alistair Darling did nothing today to reduce the budget deficit. He is overly optimistic about the recovery of the British economy. In many ways it is exactly the same opinion he had last year when I described him as ‘Darling in Wonderland.’ My opinion has not changed, therefore here’s what I wrote after his PBR in 2008:

 

Tinker here and there; fiddle here and there; lower some taxes now and raise them in 2010 and make sure the tax increases announced today are permanent.

This rather sums up today's Pre-Budget Report. Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic is another way to describe a speech that was peppered with the words global, worldwide and America. It's not our fault, folks, this is all America's fault. We are just the victim of the crime, but we are in a strong position to recover, which indeed we will in about 12 months. This was Darling in Wonderland! How does he expect us to believe his forecasts for the coming years, when he couldn't get his forecasts right for the last seven months?

George Osborne gave a much better reply than I thought he would, however, the Conservatives are going to have to be truthful with the electorate. There must be a substantial reduction in the public sector. A Samurai sword needs to be wielded throughout Whitehall and we can start with disposing with all the thousands of non-jobs and QUANGOs duplicating the work of other QUANGOs. We have to reduce the size of the client state. We have to reassess the role government plays in our lives. I suppose these questions are for another day, but if Brown opts for a snap election next spring, time is running out. 

Do you think Labour is going to get us out of this crisis? I leave up to you.