The prime minister said: "What we have seen so far are just individual examples of very bad procedures and bad behaviour, spending decisions taken in the last year or so of the Labour government that no rational government would have done - giving something like 75% of senior civil servants bonuses after everything that's happened in the current year.

"That's not a fiscal stimulus. It is a crazy thing to do. We are beginning to find individual decisions like that."

from - news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8685125.stm

Buying friends ? With OUR money ?

Good points, but not limited to the UK.

I've been watching French and Hungarian tv news this past week, and they're all saying the same thing.

And, although not a Labour voter, I have to repeat what my best friend said the other day. He owns several companies in the UK as well as having investments and joint ventures in the US, Canada, Germany and China.

He said that he voted Labour because of their stewardship of the economy during the recession. He added that, as a direct result of Labour policies he did not have to lay anyone off and is now able to take people on, creating jobs.

I didn't vote Labour, and if there was an election tomorrow probably wouldn't. But I trust my friend's opinion.

And to quote a senior government minister on the Hungarian TV news:

'What I am telling you now is no different to what people are hearing in the UK, France, Germany and the US- this is going to hurt.'

david wrote:
He said that he voted Labour because of their stewardship of the economy during the recession. He added that, as a direct result of Labour policies he did not have to lay anyone off and is now able to take people on, creating jobs.

And we'll all be paying-off that "stewardship" for decades !

I've never trusted anyone who got us into a mess - to get us out of it !

Labour knew that an election was coming and did not want to tell the truth (about the cuts needed to balance their books). Fortunately most people (the majority !) were not as thick as Labour thought they might be !

ITK my friend knows what he is talking about.

I do not like Nu Labour either, but regarding the man I know who I quoted above, who owns and co-owns companies in the UK and abroad, a good friend- a floating voter- personally I trust his opinion above yours.

Labour basically did what we all do when in a financial mess....kept spending in the hope that one day things would improve. That is how some people get into hundreds of thousands of debt.

The problem with doing this as a Government is that eventually the PEOPLE of the country have to pay for your spending. Brown now can swan around earning millions as a financial consultant and giving speeches. The rest of us will find that the economy is going to be squeezed even HARDER than it has so far in order to save money.

If we dont pay our debts then other suppliers will cut off those supplies. Civil Servants and public sector workers wont work for nothing. People on benefit would soon moan if they did not get their benefits and would all be on the street if housing benefit was not paid ( Millions of them )

The system is held together by sticky tape. The system also is self supporting - if one part goes down it pulls alot more with it. That is the best hope we have of coming out of this eventually.

The painful bit could last 10 years unless there is a big war or boom ( unlikely ) The 90s recession lasted about 7 years and the 80s recession from 1979 lasted until around 1985/86. Therefore 2015/20 is about when we get back to good stable times.

BR wrote:
Labour basically did what we all do when in a financial mess....kept spending in the hope that one day things would improve. That is how some people get into hundreds of thousands of debt.

The problem with doing this as a Government is that eventually the PEOPLE of the country have to pay for your spending. Brown now can swan around earning millions as a financial consultant and giving speeches. The rest of us will find that the economy is going to be squeezed even HARDER than it has so far in order to save money.

Quite right, BR

Labour were hoping that by keeping spending they would be able to "buy" your vote, and then bring in the cuts AFTER they had been re-elected.

Remember all those "promises" (pre-election) about no cute ("yet" ?)

The British people saw through this sham (but will still have to pay for it).

George Osborne has warned failure to tackle the UK's record deficit could be "disastrous" and said plans for £6bn cuts would be announced next week.

The new chancellor also set the date for an "emergency Budget" for 22 June.

And he pledged to hand responsibility for economic forecasts to a new body to make it harder for governments to "fiddle the figures".

Civil service chiefs lodged formal protests at spending decisions by Labour ministers in the dying months of their rule, the BBC has been told.

It culminated in the "nuclear option" of demanding written instructions from their political masters, union leader Jonathan Baume said.

There was dismay at Labour's use of public finances, he added.

from - news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8690312.stm