Keir Starmer's voice of doom will damage UK plc, says Nick Ferrari
Remember those two words we heard constantly during the General Election campaign from each and every senior Labour politician when pushed on how they would pay for their latest attractive offering?
Everything, we were told time after time after time, was “fully costed.”
From breakfast clubs for our children to improved access to the NHS for our elderly, every promise was guaranteed thanks to fingertip fiscal control. Well, at least it was – until the night of July 4.
Since then the wheels have well and truly come off Labour’s budgeting bandwagon, as was confirmed in an extraordinarily downbeat address from Sir Keir Starmer.
It was in the inappropriately named “Rose Garden” at Number 10, as everything is coming up anything but roses now.
But how can this be? It has taken less than two months for Labour’s promises to unravel and this constant bleating that the financial picture was way worse than they feared is starting to wear very thin, as well as being factually incorrect.
This “black hole” they bang on about is around £22 billion, of which £9 billion is down to their decision to sign off on generous pay deals for their old mates in the public sector, such as the train drivers.
And when you discover government spending is £1,200billion, it puts the figure into even sharper context.
It’s also worth noting the most recent figures show Britain’s economy is now growing faster than every other G7 country, with the exception of the US.
All of which also calls into question the wisdom of the timbre set by the PM.
It’s hard to recall a more grave tone set by a Prime Minister, apart from announcing we were going to war or locking down for Covid.
Again, if you go back to that pre-election period Sir Keir told us repeatedly that “growth is the number one priority of a Labour government”.
So how on earth does painting such a dark picture of a nation with “deep rot at its heart” and a “deeply unhealthy society” that is “infected” by populism help encourage overseas investment?
Yes, we are a nation with a raft of issues, including illegal boat crossings which he failed to mention even once in his gloomy speech. But damaging national morale and possibly putting off foreign business from expanding here or setting up in the first place is at best questionable, and at worst grossly irresponsible. This continual pessimistic tone might also explain the dramatic slump in his personal popularity rating, down 27 points since the election.
The PM’s reasoning is plain.Talking of “unpopular decisions”and admitting next month’s budget will be “painful” prepares us all for a pre-Halloween horror budget.
But continuing to use major speeches that get global coverage to trash GB plc is plain dumb. And it’s impossible for the potential harm to be “fully costed”.
