George Osborne has warned that Gordon Brown’s “reckless” borrowing could damage Britain’s economy in the long run.
The Shadow Chancellor said, “Our response to Mr Brown could not be clearer: piling up more debts and trying to spend your way out of the recession would be a monumental mistake, both for today and for the future. It is the road to economic ruin for our country.”
Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, George attacked Brown for abandoning fiscal prudence, and outlined the reasons why the Prime Minister’s "irresponsible" plans are doomed to failure:
- All borrowing has to be paid for – and because Labour didn’t fix the roof while the sun was shining, additional borrowing now will mean higher taxes just as the economy is starting to recover
- The more government borrows, the more taxpayers have to shell out for the debt interest bill
- Additional borrowing exerts downwards pressure on sterling and upwards pressure on long-term interest rates
George said a Conservative Government would use fully funded tax changes to help families and businesses through the recession, including freezing council tax for 2 years, cutting taxes for employers who take on unemployed people, cutting payroll taxes for the smallest firms, and allowing small and medium-sized companies to defer their VAT bills.
And he stressed, “This much is clear: Mr Brown's irresponsible plans are not a way forward. They're a return to the dark old days of spiralling deficits and capital flight that are the hallmark of every Labour government to have ever held office.”