Yet more good money after bad

So, the government is tying the taxpayer to £11bn of new IT contracts before the election, making the Tories’ planned immediate IT cuts very expensive. Is this latest example of a scorched earth policy? Or Labour ‘getting on with the job’? With the polls narrowing, I can’t see Labour setting a fiscal booby-trap that they could well have to de-fuse. But there’s the rub. Brown scorches the turf beneath his feet as he governs: he cannot stop spending money.

An £11bn bender is irresponsible in this climate, plus Labour has a baleful record on IT contracts. It has bungled a staggering £26bn on flawed IT systems, many of which were introduced without pilot schemes. Ever the optimist, I’d hoped the government might become responsible; yet again I’ve been mugged by reality of Brown. Rushing implementation is a concern. These latest programmes are for the most part extensions of the failed NHS and MoD super-computer systems; will they be any more effective than their predecessors?

But this episode speaks more of the government’s mindset.