Will Gordon Brown call an April election? Prime Minister signals change of plan as fear grows of a double dip recession

 

 

By Sam Fleming and Tim Shipman

Last updated at 11:17 AM on 19th February 2010

 

 

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Gordon Brown today urged voters not to hand power to the Tories, claiming they would put Britain's economic recovery at risk and damage the futures of millions.

Buoyed by the support of more than 60 experts for Labour's economic policy, the Prime Minister went on the offensive amid growing speculation he is about to call an early election.

He accused David Cameron of using scare tactics to win votes, claiming the 'well-financed right wing' were trying to frighten the public into accepting his 'bleak, austere' view of Britain's future.

Mr Brown claimed it was all a front so that the Conservatives could pursue their own agenda of marginalising public services because of an ideological 'hatred' of the state.

 

And pursuing his class war campaign, he insisted the Tories would deprive ordinary children and families of opportunity and hurt the middle classes.

 

 

Attack: Gordon Brown at the Progressive Governance Conference today

 

His speech, 24 hours before the Premier is due to fire the starting gun for the election at a major rally tomorrow, escalates the bitter row over public spending.

 

This has now spread to the highest echelons of the financial industry with experts lining up behind both parties to back their plans to tackle Britain's colossal debts.

On Sunday, 20 economists wrote a letter to the Sunday Times insisted shadow chancellor George Osborne is right to insist the deficit must be tackled immediately.

But today, 60 other experts in two letters to the Financial Times rallied behind Alistair Darling's stategy to delay spending cuts for fear of choking off a recovery.

 

Mr Brown insisted again today: 'I say to the British people, this is not the time to put the economy at risk. This is the time to make sure jobs and growth are secured. 2010 must be year for growth. It must not be the year when the economy dips back into recession.

'Instead of admitting the mistakes of private banks and institutions in causing the recession, the well-financed right-wing are not only trying to blame governments for the crisis but trying to use legitimate concerns about deficits to scare people into accepting a bleak and austere picture of the future for the majority, and then to use what's happening as a pretext for public services to be marginalised at precisely the moment they should become smarter and more personalised.

'They are using the talk of action on debt to conceal the hard fact that their real position is that they remain wedded, as they have always been, to an ideology that would always make government the problem and deny people the helping hand that government can be.'

He added: 'Instead of helping the recovery in our country, Conservative dislike of government, bordering on hatred of government action, would risk recovery now.'

PORTRAIT OF TWO MEN AFTER ONE JOB

 

 

As the pre-election campaign continues, David Cameron and Gordon Brown were meeting voters yesterday. The Tory leader was at a play centre in London, while the Prime Minister went to a Durham primary school

 

 

Distancing himself from the financial industry's collapse, he insisted it was a 'great myth' that Government had sparked the crisis and spending was lengthening it.

'What caused this crisis is unregulated markets that imploded,' he said. 'Either we will learn these lessons from the financial crisis... or we will relapse into old ways of business as usual and bring crisis upon ourselves anew.'

He added: 'Either governments co-operate internationally or the unfettered markets will fail us again.'

 

More...

 

 

• Shock for Labour as rebel James Purnell quits as an MP
  
• Now 60 economists defend Darling's spending cut plans
  
• Labour fights for votes with class war
  
• My wife will carry on working if I become PM, says Cameron
  
• Tories' secret plan to kill off party dinosaurs
  
• David Cameron: Tories will clamp down on 'sexualisation' of children
  

 

In another bid to paint David Cameron as elitist, Mr Brown claimed the Tories would destroy opportunities for young families and damage their education.

'Instead of defending ordinary families, they would kick ladder of opportunity away from them. Instead of supporting the middle classes, these policies would hurt the middle classes,' he said.

 

His speech to the Progressive Governance conference in London came as it emerged one of Labour's brightest stars, James Purnell, is standing down as an MP at the next election.

The former Cabinet minister almost triggered Mr Brown's downfall by walking out of Government last summer and issuing a stinging attack on the Prime Minister. But the threat subsided after other ministers including Mr Purnell's close friend David Miliband failed to follow suit, allegedly talked into staying by Lord Mandelson.

His departure from Parliament indicates he has l little hope Labour can win the next election.

Labour has been faced with a slew of torrid economic reports in recent days, with growing fears that Britain will tumble back into recession with a worse budget deficit than Greece.

It was revealed yesterday that the Treasury borrowed money in January for the first time on record. January is normally a month of big surpluses, because of the tax receipts that come rolling in at the beginning of the year.

The Prime Minister will tomorrow indicate his intention to hold an early election by spelling out Labour's main election pledges - one of which is to 'ensure the recovery' of the economy.

Gathering fears of a 'double dip' recession could force him to call an election before April 23.

That is the day the Office of National Statistics releases growth figures which could show the UK has plunged back into the red.

On a bleak day yesterday, the Treasury said it was forced to borrow £4.3billion in January - normally a month when it reports bumper surpluses.

A Bank of England survey showed lending to cash-starved businesses fell by the most on record in December.

Britain tumbled in a league table of economies, recording the second-lowest productivity among G7 countries after Japan.

Meanwhile, the housing market took a new dive as mortgage lending tumbled to a ten-year low and a report revealed the number of new homes built last year fell to its lowest level since the 1940s.

Mr Brown has long been expected to call an election for May 6, the day local elections are held.

Labour strategists openly admit that his best hope of victory will be to convince voters that he made the right economic choices to drag the country out of the economic slump and that the Tories would endanger the recovery.

Three of the four major themes of the Labour manifesto depend on the green shoots of economic recovery.

In an economic speech today the Prime Minister will set out the action that the Government is taking to 'protect future jobs and new industries', one of the four pledges.

The others include 'protecting frontline services' from spending cuts and 'helping the many' - a new foray into class warfare.

But Mr Brown's plans were undermined by the dismal economic numbers yesterday, which triggered a slide in the pound, as international investors took fright at the scale of Britain's budgetary meltdown.

Sterling fell 0.7 per cent to $1.55 against the dollar, and by 0.2 per cent to 1.15 euros.

The Treasury normally records a healthy budget surplus in January because that is when tax receipts usually flood in to the Exchequer. But a combination of job losses and sluggish growth have led to a slump in the tax take.

Last month saw the first deficit since records began in 1993, the Office of National Statistics reported.

The £4.3billion of net borrowing compares with surpluses of £5.3billion in January 2009 and £14billion the January before that.

So far this year the Treasury has borrowed an unprecedented £ 122.4billion, twice the tally recorded at this point last year.

That leaves Britain on course to record a deficit for the fiscal year of 12.8 per cent of gross domestic product. That would be even higher than the 12.7 per cent deficit in Greece, which is seeking a bailout from its fellow eurozone nations.

The numbers prompted alarm among business leaders, who warned the UK could lose its triple-A credit rating, forcing up interest rates - which would lead to mortgage misery for millions.

 

David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: 'The worse-than-expected January figures further emphasise the dangers facing Britain's international credit rating.'

Conservative Treasury spokesman Philip Hammond said: 'These appalling figures - showing the first January deficit on record - illustrate the scale of Labour's debt crisis.

'Every British family faces a bill of £4,800 to pay for Gordon Brown's borrowing so far this financial year alone.'

 

 

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Yesterday's report showed the Treasury is being forced to devote a growing amount of money to servicing the £848.5billion national debt.

Interest payments are already running at a record £4.26billion a month, nearly twice the Foreign Office's £2.3billion budget for the current year.

This is becoming a huge drain on the economy, as increasing quantities of public money are effectively flushed away.

A Treasury spokesman played down the concerns about the public finances, saying Chancellor Alistair Darling is on track to meet his £170billion Pre-Budget report deficit forecast.

'With only two months remaining, borrowing including financial sector interventions is at £122.4billion against a full year forecast of £170.4billion,' he said.

But separate reports suggested the UK is sinking even deeper into an economic mire.

A report from the Council of Mortgage Lenders showed that mortgage advances were just £9.1billion in January, the lowest level since February 2000.

 

Separately, a Government report revealed that just 118,000 new homes were built last year - the lowest figure since 1947.

Taken together, the reports suggest that the UK's tentative recovery could easily lose steam. While unemployment slipped back to 2.46million in December, many analysts expect it to rise beyond

2.5million later this year as businesses struggle. The economy grew only 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009, leaving Britain perilously exposed to a double-dip recession.

Heightening those fears, a Bank of England report showed that lending to businesses plummeted by an annual 8.1 per cent in December.

The record decline will deepen fury at the banks, which are continuing to starve their customers of credit despite receiving a near-£1trillion public bailout.

But the continued lending drought could also derail hopes for a private sector-led recovery. Unsecured lending to consumers also saw a record fall, according to the Bank's report.

 

Sam will go on working if I get to No.10, says Cameron

 

Mr Cameron said of his wife: 'She's a businesswoman and a mother more than a politician'

 

Samantha Cameron will keep her job if her husband becomes Prime Minister, the Tory leader revealed yesterday.

 

Mr Cameron said his wife liked her work and praised her has ' incredibly successful' career as creative director of up-market stationers Smythson.

 

He said if he does become prime minister he would benefit from continuing to hear a voice from outside politics

when making big decisions.

 

Mr Cameron revealed the couple's plans in an interview with Radio 4's Woman's Hour designed to win over female voters.

 

He said: 'Sam likes her work. She is incredibly successful at what she does. I think whatever happens, she will go on doing that and I hope she does because that is part of our relationship, that we are different.

 

I do my job and come home in the evening and she does her job and comes home in the evening. I think it is refreshing that you then have a broader conversation. I think she has a greater perspective on my life and my work because she is not too involved in it.

 

'We talk, but she's not a political obsessive by any manner or means. She's a businesswoman and a mother more than a politician.'

 

Mrs Cameron, 38, earns considerably more than her husband as head of Smythson of Bond Street, where she is credited with the success of items such as the Nancy bag, which was named after the couple's six-year-old daughter.

 

Last year she pocketed a share of the £18 million sale of the company, which first started in 1887 and has supplied Queen Victoria, Grace Kelly and Madonna.

 

Conservative officials refused to discuss how Mrs Cameron would balance a her professional career and her role in the public spotlight as a prime minister's wife because they did not wish to appear presumptuous about winning the election.

 

But senior Tories believe that Samantha Cameron could easily justify maintaining her independence after Tony Blair's wife Cherie kept her maiden name and continued to practice as a barrister during the early years of her husband's premiership.

 

Mr Cameron also told Radio Four that women had had to 'jump barriers far higher than men' to get selected in the past. He added: 'Sometimes the selection meeting can be as if they are looking for the perfect son-in-law rather than the perfect candidate.'

 

Mr Cameron confirmed the Tories could impose all-women shortlists on some constituencies in the run-up to the election.

 

Tories changing leadership rules to beat 'Obama' effect

 

David Cameron has ordered a secret review of the Tory leadership rules to shore up his position after the election.

The powerful backbench 1922 Committee, which oversees all leadership contests, has been asked to overhaul the rules to make it harder to depose a sitting leader.

It will also consider changing the system that gives the final say to party members because of concerns it could hand the highprofile London Mayor Boris Johnson an unfair advantage in any future contest.

The review comes amid fears that Mr Cameron's popularity could nosedive within months of coming to power as he takes the axe to public services. Senior Tories believe he could face a collapse in popularity similar to that suffered by President Obama during his first year in office.

A source on the 1922 Committee said: 'We have been asked to take another look at the leadership rules because they are not robust enough for a party in government.

'The bar for challenging the leader is set too low for a situation in which he is going to have to take some very difficult and unpopular decisions.

'Put that together with the people who are hacked off because they are not given a job and those who are unhappy about Europe and you can easily imagine a situation where the leadership is facing difficulties quite quickly.'

The existing Tory leadership rules, introduced in 1998, hand Conservative MPs considerable power over the fate of their leader.

The leader is required to face a vote of no confidence on a secret ballot if 15 per cent write letters demanding one to the chairman of the 1922 Committee. The names of those requesting a ballot are kept secret from the leader and, under a quirk in the rules, the letters cannot be rescinded, allowing them to simply 'pile up' over time.

Changes being considered include putting an 'expiry date' on the letters which would require a disgruntled MP to write again after a certain time period, possibly one year.

The proportion of MPs required to spark a vote of no confidence is also likely to be raised, probably to the 20 per cent figure used by the Labour Party.

The 1922 Committee will also look again at whether the party in the country should be given the final say with a one member, one vote ballot on a shortlist of two candidates produced by MPs.

 

Some senior Tories believe the system would hand a huge advantage to Boris Johnson, who is far better known than any other prospective candidate for the leadership.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1252147/Will-Gordon-Brown-April-election-Prime-Minister-signals-change-plan-fear-grows-double-dip-recession.html#ixzz0fyrG68sS

Has it sunk in that he's likely to be kicked out of number 10 when there's an election?, and that he won't be able to say that he's listening or just getting on with the job anymore.I personally would prefer the Conservatives to win, partly because of the sheer arrogance and contempt for the people that the Labour party has displayed over the last few years.

^Couldn't agree more.:D

The Tories may have been kicked out because of all the "sleaze", but Labour have been sleazy and lied to everyone too!:dozey: