Much as I applaud David Cameron’s warnings about debt, and his bravery for doing so at a time when the borrowed penny hasn’t quite dropped over Westminster, would he actually do anything about it? I asked him at his press conference this morning. My point: that from April 2010 Gordon Brown intends to increase state spending at an average of 1.1 per cent (see graph, below). Cameron has ruled out real-term cuts, so would therefore have a range is between 0 per cent and 1.1 per cent – ie, between nothing and almost nothing. So where’s this great difference on the economy between the two parties?
I have, of course, fallen into Brown’s trap here. He doubtless has no intention of meeting the tight spending round outlined in the PBR just as Ken Clarke had no intention of meeting the “eye-wateringly tight” spending limits that Brown did actually observe until 2000-01.
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