Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Lies, damned lies, debt and Nick Clegg

Does it matter if the Prime Minister and his deputy mislead the country about what they are doing to the national debt? Neither of them seem to think so, if today’s Essex Relaunch today is anything to go by. First, Cameron:

‘The problems of over-spending and too much debt can’t be solved by even more spending and even more debt.’

He chose his words for consumption by the ordinary voter, the factory workers who formed his backdrop. Who, listening to that, would guess what Cameron and Clegg are doing with the national debt?

Clegg, I’m afraid, went far further and suggested that the debt was being eliminated.

‘I think we have a moral duty to the next generation, to our children and our grandchildren, to wipe the slate clean for them. We set out a plan, it lasts for about six or seven years, to wipe the slate clean. To rid people of that sort of dead weight of debt that has been built up over time… We owe it to the youngsters of today to lift that dead weight of debt off their shoulders.’




Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in