This is an extremely important speech. Osborne has laid out his analysis of the UK’s economic situation and his vision for its future in more detail than ever before. The narrative he provides has been mentioned previously but the level of thought that has gone into the marshalling of arguments and evidence is new. It would be wrong for the Labour party or the wider left to simply dismiss or misrepresent what he says.
So there are considerable strengths in this speech but there is one overriding weakness. That is the gap between ends and means.
Osborne is ambitious for the UK economy. Indeed he outlines a whole new model of growth based on rising savings, investment and exports. He also wants to end youth unemployment, eliminate “the bulk” of the deficit in one parliament, tackle child poverty, introduce a new system of fiscal governance, completely redesign financial regulation and massively drive up productivity in the public sector.
Of course, all politicians promise the world before an election, but there is a particularly strong disparity between what Osborne says he wants to do and the tools he plans to use. For example, plans to end youth unemployment are laughably weak. Restructuring our economy around investment and exports would require significant government intervention and the Tories are inherently wary of this. And everyone wants a more productive public sector but ideas like the introduction of co-ops have the air of Whitehall initiativeitis about them rather than saying anything really useful about the hard daily graft of providing a public service.
In short, Osborne is talking the talking effectively here but whether he will really do the required walking is a very open question.
Adam Lent, head of economic and social affairs, TUC
George Osborne claims to be acting responsibly, but his recent pronouncements seem to put him at odds with the IMF and the governor of the Bank of England. The economic recovery remains very fragile and rapid cuts in public expenditure will almost certainly push the economy back into recession. What all political parties need is a credible strategy for restoring growth and reducing the deficit. Balancing these objectives demands skill, wisdom and flexibility. Timing is everything and acting hastily in the service of an outmoded ideology is a sure recipe for disaster. Fiscal consolidation must be postponed to 2011-12.
David Coats, research fellow, Smith Institute
Yesterday George Osborne had a chance to silence his critics. His Mais lecture was his opportunity to set out what the Conservatives would do to bring down the budget deficit, and how quickly, and how far, they would reduce government borrowing. But, once again, Osborne ducked the tough questions leaving the public as much in the dark as before. read on>
Rachel Reeves, Labour PPC, Leeds West