Gordon Brown would no doubt like to dismiss the UK's fall from "free" economy to the status of "mostly free" in this year's Index of Economic Freedom. Unfortunately for him he has quoted the Index again and again in House of Commons debates. He hasn't a leg to stand on if he wishes to ignore it now.
"If things are going so badly on regulation, why did the Heritage Foundation, which is beloved of the right wing of the Conservative party, report that we are a more liberal and deregulated economy now than in 1997, when we took office?" - Gordon Brown on 15 June 2006
"I thought that this morning the hon. Gentleman would quote the report of the Heritage Foundation of the United States of America, which says that we are a less regulated and more liberal economy than when his Government were in power in 1997." - Gordon Brown on 11 May 2006
"It is important to look at all the different comparisons, and Conservative Members will be particularly interested in one of them: the Heritage Foundation, which is one of the more right-wing institutes in the United States, has stated that in terms of economic liberalism, deregulation and flexibility of the economy, we are better placed in the rankings than when the Conservative party was in power." - Gordon Brown on 5 December 2005
"The OECD economic survey of the UK stated that competitive pressures appeared to be relatively strong in the UK. Finally, in the United States, the Heritage Foundation—a most right-wing body familiar to the Conservatives—classifies the UK's economy as far more liberal now than it was before 1997, when the Conservatives were in power." - Gordon Brown on 25 May 2005
"I have here the report of the Heritage Foundation—the most right-wing institute in the United States of America—that says that the economy in Britain is more flexible under Labour than it was under the Conservatives." - Gordon Brown on 27 March 2003
John Hutton has also repeatedly quoted past editions of Heritage's Index in Parliament when he thought it helped Labour's case.
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