Osborne: UK has run out of money

[d000hg]

Make bold promise - no coalition Govt ever, so voters will need to decide who to vote for wisely this time.

That's hilarious. I didn't think you could sink lower in my mind as a political commentator, but you managed it.

[sasguru]

It has certainly contributed to bringing matters to a head quickly. But the underlying root cause is 30% difference in productivity between North and South.

And that is entirely the point. Such disparate economies cannot, and should not, have had a common currency.
With such low discipline, the periphery should have, and historically had, the high interest rates suitable for them.
If the Euro had say, the roughly 7% interest rate that Greece had before joing the Euro, Greece would have been fine but the Germans would have been completely impoverished since their goods would have become prohibitively expensive.

And that's why it's a Euro-caused crisis.

[ThomasSoerensen]

In a stark warning ahead of next month’s Budget, the Chancellor said there was little the Coalition could do to stimulate the economy. (AtW's comment: if you can't do anything then f-off and let somebody more creative do the job!)

Mr Osborne made it clear that due to the parlous state of the public finances the best hope for economic growth was to encourage businesses to flourish and hire more workers.

“The British Government has run out of money because all the money was spent in the good years,” the Chancellor said. “The money and the investment and the jobs need to come from the private sector.” (AtW's comment: and WTF did you do to achieve it, like say removing annual investment allowance? )

Mr Osborne’s bleak assessment echoes that of Liam Byrne, the former chief secretary to the Treasury, who bluntly joked that Labour had left Britain broke when he exited the Government in 2010.

He left David Laws, his successor, a one-line note saying: “Dear Chief Secretary, I’m afraid to tell you there’s no money left”.

Mr Osborne is under severe pressure to boost growth, amid signs the economy is slipping back into a recession.

The Institute of Fiscal Studies has urged him to consider emergency tax cuts in the Budget to reduce the risk of a prolonged economic slump.

But the Chancellor yesterday said he would stand firm on his effort to balance the books by refusing to borrow money. “Any tax cut would have to be paid for,” Mr Osborne told Sky News. “In other words there would have to be a tax rise somewhere else or a spending reduction. (AtW's comment: no tulip Osborne, it's your ****ing job to find where to make savings in order to get tax cuts that would stimulate economy.)

“In other words what we are not going to do in this Budget is borrow more money to either increase spending or cut taxes.”

The strongest suggestion of help for squeezed family budgets came from the Chancellor’s claim that he was “very seriously and carefully” considering plans to help lower earners by raising the personal allowance for income tax, a proposal that has been championed by Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister.

But he implied there would be no more help for motorists struggling with record petrol prices this spring. “I have taken action already this year to avoid increases in fuel duty which were planned by the last Labour government,” he said.

The Chancellor’s tough words were echoed by Liberal Democrat Jeremy Browne, the foreign minister, who warned that Britain faced “accelerated decline” without measures to tackle its debt and increase competitiveness.

In an article published today in The Daily Telegraph, he writes that Britain’s market share in the world used to be “dominant” but was now “in freefall” compared with the soaring economies of Asia and South America. “This situation has been becoming more acute for years,” he adds. “It is now staring us in the face. So we need to take action.” (AtW's comment: oh FFS, cut taxes on exports then!)

Mr Browne writes that reform of pensions, welfare and defence is essential to stop the departments “collapsing under the weight of their own debt”. “Just because the spending was sometimes on worthy causes does not in itself mean it was affordable,” he says.

“Doing nothing when your prospects are at risk of declining is not the safe option. More of the same may be superficially more popular in the short-term but that does not make it right.”

Amid warnings that Britain urgently needed to adopt a more pro-business outlook, senior Conservatives have urged the Government to get rid of the 50 pence top rate of tax.

Figures from the Treasury last week suggested the policy was not raising the expected amount of revenue and was threatening to drive leading business people and entrepreneurs away from Britain. Dr Liam Fox, the former Conservative Defence Secretary, yesterday argued for the top tax rate to be scrapped, but added that cutting taxes on employment was even more important.

“I would have thought the priority was getting the costs of employers down and therefore I would rather have seen any reductions in taxation on employers’ taxation rather than personal taxation,” he told the BBC’s Sunday Politics show.

Any efforts to scrap the rate this parliament would face severe opposition from within the Coalition.

Simon Hughes, Liberal Democrat deputy leader, said yesterday that keeping the current 50p rate was “the right thing to do”. He told the BBC: “I represent people in a pretty solid working-class community. What they’re concerned about is what happens to ordinary people out of work and where they get jobs.” (AtW's comment: another muppet - 50% tax does not create jobs for his voters!)

Last night, Labour argued Mr Osborne needed to take a more proactive stance on boosting growth by increasing public spending.

Chris Leslie MP, the shadow Treasury minister, said it was wrong of the Chancellor to argue that Britain was broke and to rely on business alone to create economic growth.

“George Osborne can’t complacently wash his hands and claim the lack of jobs and growth in the economy is nothing to do with him,” he said.

“He needs to realise that government has a vital role to play in creating an environment where the private sector can grow and create jobs.”

Harriet Harman, Labour’s deputy leader, urged Mr Osborne to cut VAT. (AtW's comment: idiots from the coalition are finely balanced by even bigger cretins in Labour camp.)

Meanwhile, the Chancellor made it clear he was resisting pressure to hand over up to another £17.5billion in taxpayers’ money to help bail out struggling European Union countries.

He said Europe had not “shown the colour of its money” by taking measures to help itself tackle its debt problems.

Until that happens, Britain will not give any extra funds to the International Monetary Fund.

The Chancellor was speaking as finance ministers from the world’s 20 most powerful economies met in Mexico.

Mr Osborne said: “While at this G20 conference there are a lot of things to discuss; I don’t think you’re going to see any extra resources committed (to the IMF) here because eurozone countries have not committed additional resources themselves, and I think that quid pro quo will be clearly established here in Mexico City.”

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This country is run by idiots and those who will get the job after current lot has been kicked out are no better

This is just to start preparing everyone for massive "quantitative easing".

Better load up on low rate long term debt and invest in inflation safe investments.

Or - kiss your savings bye-bye.

[OwlHoot]

clearly LibDems do not understand they are junior partner and they wield far too much influence. They are dead weight that makes Cons go with the flow. ...

and anyone who supports PR should understand (but probably wouldn't or couldn't) that the same muddying of the waters would happen in every parliament.

[doodab]

and anyone who supports PR should understand (but probably wouldn't or couldn't) that the same muddying of the waters would happen in every parliament.

I actually think the coalition has worked quite well. It's certainly avoided the worst excesses of a single party majority, albeit at the cost of some debate slowing things down, which it seems the UK public are uncomfortable with.

The real problem is that the economy is a bit ****ed, here and in a lot of other places. Although politicians can be seen to be doing something and will take credit for any perceived improvement, I don't think anything they do makes that much of a difference TBH.

[AtW]

I actually think the coalition has worked quite well.

The only person who is actually doing something is Sir Merv, I'd rather he didn't.

[sasguru]

I'd rather he didn't.

Yeah but no one is going to pay any attention to you
HTH

[petergriffin]

So Osborne joins the ranks of those who've discovered that you can't print your way out of trouble...

... four years later than anybody else and 4 years before Salzheimerguru.

If Labour had been re-elected then Gordon Brown would still be Prime Minister.

How much would you like that?

GB was right all along, he deserves an apology and should be reinstated. Now!

[escapeUK]

The situation is the making of 40 years of blue then red then blue and so like ariston and on and on, it's not going to fix itself overnight. We'll be digging out of this hole for a good 10 year yet.

Nah, the proles will vote Labour back in in a few years so the party will carry on then.

[bobspud]

If Labour had been re-elected then Gordon Brown would still be Prime Minister.

How much would you like that?