Labour hid ‘scorched earth’ debts

[Vague_Boy]

To the surprise of absolutely no one who's been following the state of the UK's finances:

 

The government last night accused Labour of pursuing a “scorched earth policy” before the general election, leaving behind billions of pounds of previously hidden spending commitments.

 

The newly discovered Whitehall “black holes” could force even more severe public spending cuts, or higher tax rises, ministers fear.

 

Vince Cable, the business secretary, said: “I fear that a lot of bad news about the public finances has been hidden and stored up for the new government. The skeletons are starting to fall out of the cupboard.”

 

The new cabinet has been discovering previously unknown contracts and uncosted spending commitments left by their spendthrift predecessors.

 

“There are some worrying early signs that numbers left by the outgoing government may not add up,” said Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister.

 

David Willetts, the universities minister, claimed that Labour had left behind “not so much an in-tray as a minefield”.

 

Billions of pounds in public money was committed in the run-up to the election campaign in a deliberate strategy to boost Labour’s chances at the ballot box and sabotage the next government.

 

One former Labour minister told The Sunday Times: “There was collusion between ministers and civil servants to get as many contracts signed off as possible before the election was called.”

 

LINK

 

Putting personal and party interests before the country? Well, I guess in the words of our recently departed PM, it was "the right thing to do".

 

However, this news is not likely to be quite the "get out of jail free" card that the coalition might hope. The British public has a memory only slightly longer than the average brain-damaged goldfish, and will doubtless have forgotten all about this by next week. If they even hear about it at all between the really important stories, y'know Jordan's sex life, Chris Evans buying himself a car and whichever footballer it is this week who can't keep his tackle to himself.

[Longcol]

Doesn't surprise anyone who has expected the Tories to peddle this line

 

The Public Accounts Committee (chaired by a Tory) has certainly taken its eye off the ball then.

[Longcol]

The give away in the non - story is;

 

Billions of pounds in public money was committed in the run-up to the election campaign in a deliberate strategy to boost Labour’s chances at the ballot box and sabotage the next government.

 

Surely if it was going to boost Labour's chances then they would have made this a key part of their campaign. Did we all miss something?

[Wildcat]

Why didn't the Tories know about these things? They aren't exactly secret the competition was open and it is there to see on the RAF website...

 

http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/futurestrategictankeraircraft.cfm

[Longcol]

Why didn't the Tories know about these things? They aren't exactly secret the competition was open and it is there to see on the RAF website...

 

http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/futurestrategictankeraircraft.cfm

 

Correct.

 

All government contracts have to be advertised.

 

If the Tories and Lib Dems claim they knew nothing they were hardly being effective opposition.

[Darth Vader]

I see The Spinners are making a comeback.

[azazel666]

While the people who say that the opposition should have known about it have a point, it is still an undesirable fact that we have been under a government who would cover things up is it not?

[max]

While the people who say that the opposition should have known about it have a point, it is still an undesirable fact that we have been under a government who would cover things up is it not?

 

So with this statement you're implying we had an ineffective opposition while Labour where in power. Hardly inspiring in a new government is it?

[Rupert_Baehr]

The OP said "Labour hid 'scorched earth' debts".

 

I don't know how much access the opposition parties had to government financial data, but is it possible that they were not aware of the full extent of the bills racked up by Labour?

 

I wasn't too bad at 'Managerial Accountancy' but I did struggle with 'Economics' at Uni.

 

Even so, I do seem to detect more than a bit of 'creative accounting' and some markedly twisted economic theory emanating from the dying days of the last government.

 

I'm also aware that I am far, far smarter than 'yer average MP' - They are, after all, the people who [according to their own spin-doctors] couldn't manage to fill in an expense form without making massive mistakes (in their own favour, of course ) and who couldn't realise that certain claims might be considered fraudulent by the average 7-year old.

 

'Point Scoring' is probably pointless.

 

I voted for Blair when he was first elected ... the first time I'd ever voted Labour in my life. I was fed up to the back teeth with the corruption and arrogance of the (too long in office) Tory Party.

 

I became disenchanted with Blair fairly rapidly. I soon realised he was 'looking after No 1' and shouldn't have been anywhere near No 10.

 

When he won the election in 2005, I was horrified. I had heard so many people say that they were dissatisfied with him. So many people complain about the way he had acted in committing the UK to a (questionable) war and then failing to fund the forces.

 

All those people disliked and distrusted him, yet he was swept to victory again? - Something wrong.

 

I began to suspect that somehow Labour had 'rigged' the electorate, so I decided to exercise my 'alternative' vote - the 'pedal' vote.

 

I've no intention of changing my vote, thanks. - But I do still have lots of friends in the UK; I've got family there and I certainly support the country.

 

I appreciate that there is much disquiet amongst the many genuine and honest people who supported the corrupt, self-serving Labour government and many of those people are concerned about what the Tories might do.

 

There's been plenty of muck-slinging already on this forum. It's good for a laugh, but it isn't going to help.

 

The country is in deep sh*t. Far deeper, I suspect, than anybody has been prepared to admit. - I've heard more bullsh*t in the last week or so than I'd ever expected to hear from 'the establishment' after an election. (It isn't even convincing.)

 

'The Pound is gaining strength against the weak Euro' - Not quite; the weak Euro was falling ... but that's stopped. Nobody's talking about how the Pound is doing against the weak [and yes, it is weak!] Dollar.

 

Then there was: 'The UK will not support Greece or the Euro'.

 

LMAO! - The UK has nothing with which to support Greece or the Euro! The Greek deficit is a huge problem, but it is a mere fraction of the GDP of the Eurozone (The UK isn't in the Eurozone, so it has nothing to worry about.)

 

Those countries which are in the Eurozone (particularly Germany, the country which actually has a bit of money) aren't too keen on bailing out Greece - but they could do it. The Eurozone could bail out the defaulting Euro countries.

 

Who in the Sterling zone is going to bail out the UK if it loses its credit rating and looks like defaulting?

 

Cameron promised that he wouldn't take the UK into the Euro during the life of this Parliament.

 

Hilarious, or what? - The UK's budget deficit is so high that neither Cameron nor anybody else could persuade the ECB to allow the UK to join the Euro. - They don't want you. You can't comply with the fiscal rules. You are not eligible to be considered. Your currency is weak.

 

The Eurozone has enough problems with its other weak countries ... Why should it lumber itself with the Sterling millstone?)

 

There is a solution. It's not all 'doom and gloom'.

 

Unfortunately, the solution will require the whole country to pull together. It's time (IMO) for the country to bury the Partisan hatchet. Labour should first admit that it has dug a deeper hole than any government in history, but the remainder of Parliament (and the people) do need Labour - the UK system can't work without an effective 'loyal opposition' - and I suspect it will take a strong PARLIAMENT (not just a strong government) to drag the country back out of the hole.

 

It will only work if the people decide they want it to work.

[Tipex]

Same old tory party