Cost of living Cobblers: Ed Balls has no economic plan, say frustrated Labour MPs
Ed Balls's own are turning against him. Can hardly blame them.
Ed Balls has no economic plan, say frustrated Labour MPs, who admit that wage rises have 'kicked out the stool' from under the party
Well of course they are...
If you have no economic competence, nor for that matter was your remit ever to have such, then it's no surprise that, when economic competence is called for, a substitute has to be found.
Ed Balls has no economic plan, say frustrated Labour MPs, who admit that wage rises have 'kicked out the stool' from under the party
Labour MPs demanded a new economic plan from Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls yesterday, as figures showed the cost of living crisis is easing. Senior MPs said Ed Miliband’s party needs to show voters that it can grow the economy – rather than just redistributing taxpayers’ money from rich to poor.
One source said the news that wages are now outstripping inflation has ‘kicked out the stool’ from under Labour.
Former minister Pat McFadden said: ‘I want to see a Labour Party that takes wealth creation every bit as seriously as its fair distribution. I’m all for justice and fairness in the work place. But you have got to create wealth too.’
Another ex-minister said: ‘We’re using the cost of living argument as a substitute for economic competence.
Well of course they are...
former Labour minister wrote:...using the cost of living argument as a substitute for economic competence
If you have no economic competence, nor for that matter was your remit ever to have such, then it's no surprise that, when economic competence is called for, a substitute has to be found.
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Luckily, that substitute will arrive in May 2015 when we get rid of Osborne.
Why get rid of someone who turned the economy around?
So getting rid of Osborne will instantly create a substitue for economic incompetance? I think you'll find every single poll shows one thing, Osborne is trusted more than Balls with the economy.
Yes, he turned it around. In May 2010 we had growth and falling unemployment, and he turned those around pretty quickly.
Remember the pasty tax when you talk about competence.
And I don't know why a 0.1% increase in real wages suddenly 'ends' the cost of living crises. If you're wages had been cut every year since 2008 and then you were given a 0.1% pay rise would you then thank the boss or call for new management?
because he is an evil baby eating vile tory toff b*stard. meanwhile in the real world, we all know he is rebuilding the economy.
you seem to forget (again) about the eurozone financial meltdown that affected our economy (exports). i recommend you see a doctor about that selective amnesia you seem to be suffering from.
Bit of a come down aint it?
Sorry but they can't have it both ways .
I'll tell you about the real world: It's near a million uses of food banks in the last year alone, a 50% increase. It's a masses of people being exploited on zero hour contracts, it's record numbers of people forced into part time work because they can't find full time.
People aren't buying this economic miracle crap and rightly so, because it's exactly that, crap.
And again I have to mention that every single poll on the subject shows that despite your hyperbole and rhetoric, the public still trust Cameron and Osborne far more with the economy than their Labour opponants. Can't think why that is, I mean, they have such a coherant plan to sort everything out! Tax the bankers bonuses, spend it on EVERYTHING!
Well they tried with the spend and tax policy, saying there should be a plan B blah blah blah. Then when economic news of a better variety surfaces, say it would have happened anyway due to the economic cycle.
People should be dreading labour getting back in until the economy has been fixed.
masses of people being exploited on zero hours contracts? not millions, like you've said in the past? for your information, many people prefer zero hours contracts, as polls previously shown on this forum, show.
as for food banks (sorry to sound glib on this), but, if you build it, they will come. the more food banks that are opened, the more they will be used (which begs the question, what were these people using before foodbanks?).
if you and labour want more full time jobs available, then please please please explain to me how labour intend to provide more full time jobs?
lets face it Jol, the economy is on the up, inflation is down, wages rising faster than inflation, more people in work now than at any other time - labours mantra is crumbling before them. and they have no alternative.
Oh Gawd.
And then there's the other real world where people know that hunger isn't something that's magically sprung up in the last four years, where the majority of those on zero hours contracts are there because they want to be and where the percentage of those working part time has fallen, not risen, under this Government.
As for crap - it would be hard to top your last sentence. Who has called the Coalition's fiscal program an economic miracle?
If you have had to absorb inflation during a 4 year pay freeze I am guessing you will end up feeling pretty miserable. If at the start of the 5th year you discover that a pay rise will match current inflation, I think it would be fair to say that nothing has changed - you are still feeling the effects of the long pay freeze and you are now standing still.
The problem Labour has with the economy is the same one they had with Boris and the last mayoral election. During his first run at becoming mayor Labour predicted that if he got in it would be an apocalypse, that he would bring the entire city to a standstill. It didn't happen. So when he ran against Ken again they had nothing to use, they'd already made out he would destroy the city the first time so the second time they had nothing left to aim at him.
Balls has been predicting for years now that the british economy is stuffed, that Osborne's plans have failed and that everything would get worse. Now things are getting marginally better he's stuck for something to say without his old predictions being tossed back at him. So he concetrates on the 'cost of living crisis', which has had some traction, but isn't something they can base their ENTIRE economic policy around. As shown by them being so far behind on all economic questions, people might not feel things are particularly good or getting much better, but they don't see any alternative from Labour.
I haven't heard ANYONE say that, apart from people claiming that the people saying it are talking rubbish.
We also were running a deficient of 12% of GDP, highest in the EU, even worse than basket case Greece, and we saw what happened to the Greeks.
Stimulating demand by lowering VAT, so people could rush out and buy cheap foreign imports, stimulating demand in imported cars with the car scrapage scheme does not make an economic miracle.
The Chinese and South Koreans must have been laughing all of the way to the bank
Investment does not mean fuelling current consumption
http://yougov.co.uk/news/2014/04/16/cost-living-crisis-ending/
Of course the lucky who get bonuses are going to think it's great, but they are in the minority.
It's much the same as gardening, i.e. the heavier you prune, the more the greenery grows back.
Plenty of manure, which Osborne has been generous with.
Balls or Osborne, I'm sure the economy will survive and re-grow. The real issue is who will benefit from the harvest?
I'm afraid there's nothing doctors can do about it, it's like a form of Tourette's they just can't help themselves whenever someone mentions the upturn in the economy, either that are they are being willfully ignorant (sometimes called tactical stupidity).
and the UK's problem is that too many people are prepared to vote for the scoundrels.
Still doesn't mean they're any good, just less bad than the useless labour alternative - it's like choosing between being shot or hung. Unfortunately that seems the pattern in British politics - we're not getting the best for the jobs voted in, but the least worst from those offered us.
Still clinging to the mythical defence created by Labour to deflect criticism away from Labour I see.
Change the record.
Not as much as it shows how gullible people can be. Anyway gotta go I've just received an e-mail from a Nigerian prince offering me the chance to make a small fortune...
I'm in the money, I'm in the money
Good post - illustrating nicely that inevitable Capitalist cyclical economic downturns are no respecter of which party happens to be in government.
More tiresome and shallow Punch and Judy politics visible on this thread.
As per.