Let us step back from the argument in the Labour party and the jibes from the Tories about the new Bill before parliament which is designed to enshrine in law the requirement that ‘in normal times’ (?) no government may run a budget deficit. Forget party politics. This Bill or Charter or whatever it is, is rubbish. It is a cynical piece of theatre which has no basis in law whatever parliament does with it. This is because no Parliament can bind the hands of another and as soon as the Tories are defeated any future government can repeal this idiotic act. It has no more validity than passing a law making it illegal for MPs to sneeze on Wednesdays. It may well be prudent to run a budget surplus in so called normal times, but you cannot make a law about it.
Moreover it apparently includes borrowing for investment, which is untenable nonsense and would ensure the gradual collapse of the country’s infrastructure. Unless the government printed money, which the Tories don’t like either. Of course it is a good idea, a necessity even, to live within your means. When it is clear you are not doing that you have two options; cut your costs or increase your income. The Tories have led the government for over five years and so far all they have offered is cuts to balance the books. These have not balanced when promised, so the deficit is still there. The other promise they made was to rebalance the economy away from house price inflation and debt to fund consumption of imported goods, to an economy based on investment, manufacturing the stuff we consume and exporting the surplus. The attempt to do that is as big a car crash as their immigration policy. The current economic model cannot deliver the revenue to pay the bills and the passage of this fatuous law will not change that.
Instead of conning the country with this cynical nonsense, Osborne should be working hard to resolve the increasing problems affecting the most vulnerable people and the most vital services as a consequence of the failure of everything they have thus far tried. Corbyn and MacDonald have tripped up politically with their U-Turn, but they are now facing the right direction. They can be forgiven for a lack of preparation, since when they set out in their campaign for the leadership, it can never have occurred to either that they were headed for a landslide victory and some misfires are hardly to be wondered at. But Osborne has been at this for years. He is facing the wrong direction and he knows it. He is trying to make a fool of Labour, but in time this ridiculous proposal will make a fool of him. Boris is laughing.