It’s bad out there, Darling 

Alistair Darling’s interview with The Times this morning marks the start of a new chapter in British politics. Darling makes no attempt to sugar-coat the economic situation. He is frank that “the economic news is going to be difficult for quite some time.” He also does not try and pretend that the economy will have recovered by the next election. Instead, he argues that the election will be a choice about who can best get Britain out of the current mess. (Realistically, it is hard to see how Labour can win unless the economy improves.)

Darling tells Rachel Sylvester and Alice Thomson that he has informed his Cabinet colleagues that they can’t have any more money to spend. He also accepts that people are close to breaking point on the question of tax, accepting that people are already “feeling squeezed.”

The interview marks Darling grabbing hold of the news agenda with some straight talk.