26.09.11
Balls speaks on the economy
Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls will vow to spend any windfall from the sale of bank shares on paying off national debt, and to stick to strict spending rules in order to provide economic recovery.
At the Labour conference in Liverpool, Balls is set to speak today on the economy, claiming that the pace of deficit reduction should be slower in pace than the Coalition Government’s plans while seeking to regain Labour’s economic credibility with the public.
He will say: “We said that going too far, too fast would choke off the recovery and put jobs at risk; we warned that cutting spending and raising taxes too fast would create a vicious circle here in Britain and make it harder to get the deficit down.”
Balls considers the need for strict rules on spending when discussing the two-year policy review of Labour’s manifesto. He will say: “We will set out for our manifesto tough fiscal rules that the next Labour government will have to stick to – to get out country's current budget back to balance and national debt on a downward path. And these fiscal rules will be independently monitored by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
“Even as bank shares are falling again, David Cameron and Nick Clegg are still betting on a windfall gain from privatising RBS and Lloyds to pay for a pre-election giveaway. We will commit instead in our manifesto to do the responsible thing and use any windfall gain from the sale of bank shares to repay the national debt. That will be Labour's choice - fiscal responsibility in the national interest.”
Prime Minister David Cameron has reiterated that the Government’s austerity measures will not change, and there would be no changes to the UK’s deficit plans.
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