It’s something I heard time and time again during the election, and perhaps became my biggest ‘bang-head-on-table’ issue of the last Parliament. Now it seems Lord Myners - former City Minister under Labour - agrees with the many other sane people who understand business and jumped up and down every time the Future Jobs Fund was mentioned.
“The Government cannot create jobs. The Government can create an environment that is conducive to the creation of jobs, but they cannot create jobs and we mislead ourselves if we believe they can.”
Myners, speaking in the House of Lords yesterday, went even further and bludgeoned another Labour myth about “supporting the economy” with profligate public sector expansion.
“There is nothing progressive about a Government who consistently spend more than they can raise in taxation, and certainly nothing progressive that endows generations to come with the liabilities incurred by the current generation.”
And finally, onto the issue of cuts. While the Labour leadership and trade unions are adopting that age old “no cuts” position (aka take head and submerge under about 2 feet of sand) Myners at least is showing signs of coming to terms with what happens when you shower the public sector with money.
“There will need to be significant cuts in public expenditure, but there is considerable waste in public expenditure. I have seen that in my own experience as a government Minister.”
Just a pity he couldn’t bring himself to say it before now. What’s the point of a government of all the talents if the Goats have chains around their necks? Or perhaps they were just scared of Nokias.