George Osborne said the Pre-Budget Report represents “the greatest failure of public policy for a generation” after Alistair Darling announced plans to double the national debt to more than £1 trillion.
George, the Shadow Chancellor, described the report as a "Tax Bombshell Budget" and stressed that a debt of £1 trillion was “the bill for Labour’s decade of irresponsibility”.
“It is confirmation of the time-old truth that, in the end, all Labour chancellors run out of money and all Labour governments bring this country to the verge of bankruptcy.”
George condemned Darling’s strategy of trying to spend money we don’t have to try to escape the recession:
“Like the gambler who can’t give up, he thinks they can borrow their way out of debt.”
George stressed that the lowering of VAT and raising of the top income tax band were measures “designed to distract attention” from the massive permanent tax rises in the Pre-Budget Report:
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£20 billion on National Insurance
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£10 billion on income tax
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£5 billion on alcohol and cigarettes
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£2 billion on pensions
These increases amount to nearly £1,500 for every family over the next Parliament - and by 2012/13, anyone earning more than £20,000 will be paying more tax.
George condemned Labour for putting an “unexploded tax bombshell" underneath the future economic recovery, and stressed that Labour's temporary tax cuts will lead to higher taxes in the long run:
"Labour has done it again. Massive borrowing. Rising unemployment. Tax giveaways for Christmas paid for by tax rises for life. This Budget is all about the political cycle and not the economic cycle."