Autumn statement 2013: Ed Balls’ counterattack

Ed Balls knew that his response to George Osborne’s Autumn Statement today was going to be difficult. As I blogged this morning, the Shadow Chancellor didn’t really have anywhere to go other than complain about the cost of living. This was aggravated by the fact that any Shadow Chancellor’s response to any autumn statement is a tough gig as he has no more advance sight of the figures and announcements than anyone else (perhaps George Osborne was just trying to be kind this year by briefing so much out in advance).

But Balls’ strategy seems to have been the following:

1. Draft some good jokes in advance

The jokes were good. If autumn statements were about jokes, Balls would have done pretty well. He referred to the latest universal credit debacle, saying: ‘No mention of Universal Credit in the statement. IDS: In. Deep. Shambles.’ And he mocked George Osborne’s flexibility over meeting his own targets with a reference to Owen Paterson’s comments about badgers, saying: ‘With this Government it’s clear not just the badgers that move the goalposts.