Cameron is set to deliver a fiery speech to the Tory spring conference, but events are moving fast and he’s struggling to keep up. For a start, last week’s Budget implied 2.3 percent spending cuts for the three years covered by next year’s spending review. Cameron was still talking about spending “growth” in his Cardiff speech last month, and Darling buried this idea before he did. There is a strong case for the government to spend less of other people’s money, not just “restraint” in the increases. But I suspect we won’t hear it today.
Instead, the case we are hearing from the Tories often lacks coherence. ConservativeHome tells us that Andrew Lansley is talking about protecting his NHS budget. As health is the no.1 bill, this would imply 4 percent cuts in other areas like education.
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