Darling’s Speech

Darling’s speech suggests that Labour will not tack that left during this financial crisis. The Chancellor did attack the bonus culture. But all he said was that the government would “look at the culture of huge bonuses that have distorted the way decisions are made” which is not the kind of language that suggests he is actually planning on doing anything.

Generally, there was little meat in the speech. Darling did admit that inflation was too high. He, understandably, pointed out that his comments about the toughest economic times for sixty years now look rather prescient. And there were some pro-forma attacks on The Tories and praise for Gordon Brown. But in short, this was a holding speech that is unlikely to move the needle either way.