The strange case of the extra £5bn

Strange things are happening between Whitehall and Birmingham. After the IMF downgraded its growth forecast for Britain yesterday, the BBC reported that some government were considering spending an additional £5bn on capital projects: transport links, broadband, housing and so forth: as a stimulus to ward off possible recession. The implication was that the Liberal Democrats were in favour of changing Britain’s economic course and the Conservatives were not.

Chris Huhne appeared on Newsnight and quashed the story (30 mins – 33 mins). He said he didn’t recognise the £5bn figure and said there was “no such plan”, but conceded that the government would have to be “imaginative and creative…to get growth going”.

The BBC is still running with the story. Danny Alexander was quizzed about it on the Today programme. He was adamant that he “didn’t recognise” the reported figure and added: “This country has a great asset in clear spending plans that we are sticking to, and that is something we should not sacrifice.