News from the New Party

Welcome back, Old Labour!

Jeff Randall has a blistering attack on the government's economic record in the Telegraph: "Debts up, taxes up, welcome back Old Labour."

Unemployment is heading for 3m. Bankruptcies are running at record levels and home repossessions soon will be. Net new mortgage lending is on the brink of collapse, destroying prospects for a quick bounce in property prices.

In a stunning display of reverse alchemy, golden rules of fiscal discipline have been transmuted into 24-carat guarantees of higher taxes. The new top rate of 45pc is just an hors d'oeuvre. Why stop there? Under the battlecry "Needs Must", what's to prevent Cabinet's class warriors pushing for 50pc, or even 60pc? Hazel Blears and Harriet Harman would love it.

He calls the pre-budget report "a 232-page charge sheet" constructed by a chancellor who is "eithe a psychopathic self-delusionist or an ecstasy addict".

We can certainly trace back many of the current problems to the massive consumer debt - now standing at £1.4 trillion - and reckless public spending over recent years.  While Gordon Brown did not single-handedly cause the global financial crisis, Britain's ability to cope with it has been severely impaired.

Randall concludes:

Bizarrely, the Prime Minister has never looked happier. His dream is coming true. More than 900,000 public sector jobs have been created under his regime, banks have been nationalised and taxes are rising. Britain is not yet a command economy, but we're on the way. Welcome back Old Labour.

Bizarre indeed!