Verdict on George Osborne's speech

We billed it as the most important speech of the week.

The tone was right.  The delivery excellent.  The council tax freeze very welcome.  The message on the financial markets was appropriate.  The speech had some good jokes.

But George Osborne disappointed on the big issue of public spending restraint.

This is what we wrote last week:

"The public sector is bloated and there must be discipline.  A recruitment freeze in the public sector should be the starting point.  We also need changes to procurement practices, IT projects and the budgets for quangoes.  That's the message we hope to hear from Mr Osborne in Birmingham."

We didn't hear that message.

The Mayor of London showed the way yesterday.  He has afforded a council tax freeze because he followed another profligate Labour politician, Ken Livingstone, as Cameron-Osborne will follow Brown.  By eliminating waste and useless programmes, Boris will be able to offer relief to London's hard-pressed taxpayers.  Boris follows other successful Conservative councils; notably Hammersmith & Fulham, that have found ways of cutting taxes, cutting spending and repaying debt.  Conservative councils are achieving these gains because they are following on from Labour councils that lacked basic management expertise.  The next Conservative government will follow a Labour government that is at least as incompetent.

It's good news that we won't be renewing the pledge to match Labour's spending splurge but we need to be steeling ourselves and the public at large for something close to a freeze in all central government expenditure.  The Tory Treasury team says it hasn't been done before.  True, but neither has a government spent as wrecklessly as the Brown-Blair administration.  Oliver Letwin called government "fat" at the last election.  It's now seriously obese.

The Conservatives' new Plan for the Economy contains many good ideas for long-term economic growth but it is not creating the necessary room for short term reductions in borrowing (that could help reduce interest rates) or tax reductions (that could help businesses and stem corporate flight).

Perhaps the party won't act until it's in Government?  Fair enough but act it must.  The British economy needs a very different direction.

Comments

[Sammy Finn]

Agreed but it's not politically necessary for the Conservatives to commit to this yet.

[Will W]

"It's good news that Labour won't be renewing the pledge to match Labour's spending splurge"

Shouldn't that be the Conservatives?

Couldn't agree more, btw.

[Steve]

It was really good, just dont expect much coverage of it by the McLabour controlled press and media.

[Tim Montgomerie]

Thanks Will. Now corrected.

[Alan S]

Every household is cutting back.
A freeze is the least we should expect from government.

[christina Speight]

~I thought I'd listened to the speech but had the BBC left large bits out? (It ran for 22 mins 33 seconds). In that time I heard not a word about Council Tax -nor a single word about the financial markets - and only heard one joke (about Ed Balls) I heard reams about all the visitors, how lovely Cameron was, and endlessly about how he wasn't going to cut taxes. Did I see a different speech?

My comment to someone else after watching was "Watched him and I was bored out of my mind! The world wants to know what HE would do about the biggest economic crisis of my lifetime (let alone his) and it wasn't mentioned, despite the whole herd of elephants in the room! The public will judge the Brown -Darling team against Cameron-Osborne as to who is the best to deal with the crisis and on this showing Brown-Darling wins hands down. He spent all his precious 22 mins 33 seconds explaining why he wasn't going to cut taxes. That was yesterday's argument. Today nobody expects him to, so 5 minutes would have been more than enough. He just went through the motions ticking off box after box. What he said on radio this morning was infinitely better. Did Ed Balls write the speech ?

I'm beginning to think Labour might win again"

Have the BEEB sabotaged and distorted the whole speech ??? They gave no indication it had been ibn any way edited.

[David (One of many)]

"The public will judge the Brown -Darling team against Cameron-Osborne as to who is the best to deal with the crisis and on this showing Brown-Darling wins hands down."

Absolute nonsense, Christina. Brown pretty much said that times are hard because of other people, and that even then they weren't that bad. He then promised even more spending, without explaining where money was coming from. Osborne laid out the economic reality, said honestly that he'd like to cut taxes but couldn't do much at the moment, and gave us a starting point from where he would like to being to try.

[David (One of many)]

*begin to try.

[Graham Doll]

Good speech, mustn't frighten the horses. Steady as she goes.

[Anne Houston]

I must say I was far from impressed. Why should we be scared of promising tax cuts. We should make it clear that public services have to be trimmed back and tax cut for hard working British people.

[christina Speight]

On the film I saw - and I've asked already if that was the whole speech and nobody bothers to answer that crucial point - it was as I described it - dead boring and endless reading of dull thank yous and nothing as described in the editorial above. If the Beeb HAVE edited the important bits out we should go for them.

[Saltmaker]

Did I see a different speech?

You must have, Christina.

[David Belchamber]

What I have found illuminating is actually seeing members of the shadow cabinet and their ministerial teams in action, thereby giving me an impression (in some cases the first one) of their personality and fitness to be in government. Inevitably, one compares them with the present incumbents.

There is no doubt as to who is more impressive as leader (was Blair any older or more experienced than DC when he became PM and he was head and shoulders above Brown?).
William Hague v Miliband; both pleasant and intelligent but Hague is more assured. Osborne v Darling. I now think that Osborne is able to do the job more competently, as long as he has some experts to help him. Philip Hammond v Cooper: no contest. Andrew Lansley v Johnson. On today's performance, no contest; Lansley was pleasant and authoritative and, being a doctor, obviously actually knows a lot about the subject. His shadow team was also very impressive for the same reasons. Their policy for the NHS also makes so much more sense than Labour's.

I know that you need a great number of people to form a government these are all key figures, and we will look forward to the second half of the conference hoping that these standards will be maintained.

[Dorian Grape]

How peculiar or actually how explicit to England is the flagship council tax freeze?

Entirely. It only applies in England.

As with Gordon's Christmas hamper last week the goodies only apply to England and now we have more specifically English shaped promises. Without mentioning the E word.

500 groats to the first reference to England in Birmingham, England. Should one care to potter along the M5 in Brum you will see a most splendid display(s) of the flag of E.

[John F Aberdeen]

"Have the BEEB sabotaged and distorted the whole speech ??? They gave no indication it had been ibn any way edited".

Posted by: christina Speight | September 29, 2008 at 17:16

Christina and others, I personally have written off the BBC a long time ago which is why I don,t watch Daily Politics,Question Time etc because of their left wing bias and frankly dumbed down rubbish.
I,ve been following the conference on BBC/Parliament both on TV and online which gives uninterrupted coverage and yes GO talked about freezing the council tax and about the finances.
The BBC is another left wing orginisation that will be slaughtered at the next general election.

[t miller]

Great speech, give that man a Baronetcy, your Majesty. Wait a minute, he already has one not from Elizabeth the Second but Charles the First.

[Northern Tory]

I'm not a big fan of Osborne. I think we would be better off with Hague in such a key role. Osborne (and to a certain degree Cameron) look like they are petrified of trying to steer the country out of this economic catastrophe...
We need to look more up for the challenge or the novice(s) tag will stick!

[Norm Brainer]

I personally have written off the BBC a long time ago ...
I,ve been following the conference on BBC/Parliament both on TV and online....
The BBC is another left wing orginisation that will be slaughtered at the next general election.

Slightly contradictory stance there.
Britain is nothing without the BBC, but then maybe something does need to be done regarding the bias.

The whole speech was live on the daily politics today, so watch that on iplayer when it becomes available to see if they missed bits out in the source you viewed - But I doubt they would have missed the council tax bit out given that's what they've been reporting about it all afternoon.

[Mark Hudson]

I expected to be disappointed by Gideon's speech and I was. There was no coherent analysis or critique of recent events, which sadly mirrors the Conservative Party's overall response to the greatest financial maelstrom since 1932.

On the council tax announcement, so what? I currently pay Ashford Borough Council / Kent County Council £2,646.10 a year and get precisely sod all back for it apart from my bins emptied weekly (a huge plus I agree and we don't have any of that recycling crap which is a huge plus). How about reviewing the structure and pointless bureaucracy and services of local authorities, with concrete plans signicantly to reduce their expenditure and corresponding requirements for council tax receipts?

[Dominic]

Good speech it is now time for all Conservatives to bury incompetent Brown and his scurvy crew. Labour have never missed an opportunity to bash the Conservatives for all the years in office aided and abetted by all their media friends such as Marr, Bolton,Wark and the Dimbleby’s .It is sad to see even Neil giving that grinning Blears so much air time without ever giving her a hard time.
Not one Conservative Politician should ever go into an interview with the media without knowing all the financial gaffes made by Brown and hammer them home at every opportunity not just for the sake of the Conservative Party but for the sake of Britain.

[christina Speight]

Saltmaker at 1750 - Thank you. I have now seen the 6 o'clock News and it bore no resemblance to the halting laboured excerpts they put out as a video of the speech all afternoon. What was shown on the News was good punchy stuff on the whole. Not outstanding but workmanlike

I think it an outrage that the video was not put as "edited highlights" (though 'lowlights' would be better.

Can this blatant bias please be taken up?

[David (One of many)]

Christina, apologies for snapping at you earlier. I missed the part where you mentioned the length; I assumed you'd watched it live so couldn't see where you were coming from. I think the speech was closer 35-40 minutes in total, so it's absolutely unacceptable for the BBC to misrepresent it in that fashion.

[Norm Brainer]

Where/When did you see the speech, Christina?

[M Dowding]

It was fine. The Shadow Cabinet can only guess at the real horror of what Brown and Blair have really been up to. Time to get angry and have a go will be two years into A Conservative Government. Let's get to that point, shall we?

[Jamal McAkhbar]

Yes Al Beeb edited out the messages because it recounted the full horror of McBroon's wastefulyears. Watch it on Sky, press the red button and see it all.

[christina Speight]

Norm Brainer at 19:34

I saw it on: and it's still there!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5400474.stm

Saw it ABOUT 4pm ISH

I'm going to pass the whole bang shoot on to my personal Beeb neighbour. If I do it off the record remedial action usually gets taken without any publicity.

[Norm Brainer]

Are you sure you don't mean
Here
...and not the page from 2006 which you posted?

[ChrisD]

Breaking News! Mark Hudson decides not to change the record.
"I expected to be disappointed by Gideon's speech and I was."

Very poor reporting from Nick Robinson tonight. He was extremely misinformed?, when he attempted to tie in the protests in Aberdeen over local council cuts with the SNP's decision to freeze local council tax in Scotland.
Even the most brief check on the BBC Scotland news web pages would have shown him that the history of the staggering over spend and subsequent dire cuts now being implemented dates back to before the SNP were even elected.
Really badly informed journalism at its worst!

[Carl James]

Did he really say this?

"If you pay yourself sums far beyond what anyone else in any walk of life does, then be prepared to lose it when you make mistakes."

What would the managers of his richly-endowed trust fund say?

[Scouse Tory]

On the day that WPP announced it was moving to Ireland because of its more competitive fiscal regime, the Irish government showed why.

In this morning's Irish Times cabinet minister Willie O'Dea, in describing the government's response to falling tax revenues, said: "The main priority is on spending [cuts]. That's where the main focus will be and will be evident on budget day."

The government is discussing cutting next year's budget by between 5-7%. They've secured a pay freeze for public sector workers 'because they should share some of the pain, given that they have secure jobs'. Oh, and whilst recognising that they might also need to borrow, Mr O'Dea noted "We will borrow [only] as much as is necessary as excessive borrowing is bad in itself."

Readers of this site will need no telling how that compares and contrasts with the muppets in Downing Street. So if anyone thinks WPP will be the last quoted company shifting its tax domicile to Ireland - and perhaps key operations - they must live in Labour la-la land.

Anyhow, here's the full story: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2008/0929/1222420015655.html

[Scouse Tory]

I should have noted in my post of 20:32 that it would be great if a future Conservative Chancellor would show the same honesty, firmness of purpose and clear action as our Irish cousins.

[Northern Tory]

Strong performance by Cameron in a very tough environment on Panorama this evening (no favours from Nick Brown)...

Two potential banana skins - at one point Cameron appeared to be not wearing a seatbelt in the back of the car when he was been driven to an estate and he also referred to President Obama (whoops) won't go down well with the McCain troops...

Bloody interviews like that are a no win situation some times

[Votedave]

Sir James Sassoon, a former envoy for Gordon Brown, has defected to us.

[Jill, London]

As a follow up to Votedave’s post – here’s a link about Sassoon defecting to the Conservatives:
“Sir James Sassoon is to be unveiled as a Tory supporter only weeks after quitting as an adviser to the Prime Minister.” LINK: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/3097378/Gordon-Browns-former-City-envoy-James-Sassoon-defects-to-Conservatives.html

[Opinicus]

Look at the BBC website tonight

There is the big news - the US bailout plan has been rejected, the Western banking system, responsible for 20% of GDP in this country, stands on the edge of the Abyss.

And in small print underneath there is the conference pledge - to hold council tax for 2 yrs, if local authorities play ball; the BBC says its worth £1.40 a week to an average family.

I know timing is as much a matter of luck as it is of skill but there comes a time when you hope your politicians will turn into Statesmen. Comes a time for Jeremiah and we get the Sunday School teacher.

Its all so depressingly unimpressive.

[sjm]

David Belchamber: Andrew Lansley a doctor? Since when?

[John Ionides]

sorry to be OT, but is there a complete version of Boris' speech anywhere?

[rod sharp]

Osbourne gave a good speech today and laid the blame fairly and squarely on the guilty. However I think his comments on city bonuses will fall on deaf ears insofar as the guilty ones have already taken their money. Yes, they may lose their jobs but with six figure, or greater bonuses, already tucked away they will still have laughed all the way to the bank.

[Tom H]

Osborne: "Perhaps there are some market ideologues who think that the money men can do no wrong. But I tell you this right now: I am not one of them."

No, George, free marketers believe that the market will correct past mistakes, as we are now witnessing.

We have no illusions about the ability of bankers to royally screw up under a system of fiat money and fractional reserve banking.

[christina Speight]

Norm Brainer at 20:04 "and not the page from 2006 which you posted?"

Grovel grovel and apologies. The link I used to get Osborne's speech led me to an offer of the "Video" and I did not notice the date on the text page. Consequently I have wasted everyone's time criticising a 2 year old speech . Careless indeed. I reat APOLOGIES

[Dangermouse]

I see Dolly's mates have been here as well.They're pathetically easy to spot.

Osborne's speech was excellent. We've had enough double-speak from this current government and its media chattels. To go into pay freezes etc. is implicit in controlled spending. The councils need to impose this discipline upon themselves, not have it imposed centrally. I'm glad Osborne stuck to his principles.

It is about time this culture of macho big budgets was stopped. I think this was the speech of a real Chancellor, not the puppet we currently have.

[DCMX]

The world markets are in turmoil and Osborne offers a council tax cut. The boy has brought a toy to a man's game.

[James Maskell]

1. Why was George Osborne smirking when he said there was no money left in the government coffers? He tried to hide it but it did peek out at times. The state of public finances and recession is not a thing to find humour in. People are losing their livelihoods and its not funny.

2. Theres a serious risk here of promising far more tax cuts than can be afforded. Weve heard a raft of tax cuts now from IHT to stamp duty, from the married couple penalty reversal now to council tax. Can this actually be afforded? I admit its odd that I pose this question because I dont think its ever really hit home until Camwrons lot promised more tax cuts, but is the money accounted for, and if so, can we please see the evidence so that we can judge for ourselves the credibility of Conservative talk about stability on tax plans?

[Ian]

In these times of impending austerity, the first cut has to be our contribution to the EU.
They may not like it, but that shouldn't stop us, - from taking control of our own National expenditure instead of shoring up others in these tough times !

[B.Garvie]

Added: Wednesday, 1 October, 2008, 07:02 GMT

Tory economic proposals are very welcome. After 11 years of paying for Labour's 112+ stealth taxes, this is like a breath of fresh air.

What would really bring back confidence would be for David Cameron to persuade Brown to guarantee all deposits and savings in our Banks.If Ireland can do it, so should the British system; after all,Brown keeps telling us we are the fourth largest economy in the world and better placed than most to weather this credit crisis??? Go on DC, show Brown the way

[BGarvie], Reading