Balls’ new rules

It’s Ed Balls’ speech today, and he’s cleared it with Ed Miliband – a courtesy that Gordon Brown never extended to Tony Blair. He promises to introduce a new set of fiscal rules, which I’m sure will make the nation’s heart leap, given how well the last set of fiscal rules worked. But what jumps out at me is his pledge to use any money raised from flogging off the banks for deficit reduction, rather than a giveaway.

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Here’s what Balls is expected to say, ‘Even as bank shares are falling again, David Cameron and Nick Clegg are still betting on a windfall gain from privatising RBS and Lloyds to pay for a pre-election giveaway. We could also pledge to spend that windfall. But – just as with the 3G mobile phone auction – we will commit instead in our manifesto to do the responsible thing and use any windfall gain from the sale of bank shares to repay the national debt.