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View from the Commons - There has to be change.
January 22, 2010 12:00 AM
By Paul Holmes MP in View from the Commons
By Paul Holmes MP in View from the Commons
With 10 weeks or less to go before the start of the General Election, Parliament continues to operate with an unreal air. MP's spend their time shadow boxing over election promises and debating legislation, most of which does not have time to become Law.
One touch of reality however has emerged from the recent botched coup in which Geoff Hoon (former Chief Whip), and Patricia Hewitt (former Cabinet Minister), tried unsuccessfully to get rid of Gordon Brown. Alistair Darling, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, has now been allowed to admit the reality, that whoever wins the soon to be held election will have to make deep cuts in public spending.
The depth of the crisis facing Britain is still not fully realised by many. The UK is the last major economy to emerge from the worst recession in modern times (not among the first as Gordon said it would be a year ago). Unemployment will continue to rise throughout 2010. More young people are unemployed than ever before. Personal insolvencies, at over 180,000, are five times higher than in all previous recessions added together. The Government owes a record £178 Billion -the worst figure since World War Two -and is borrowing £500 Million MORE every day!
Since the failed coup the Chancellor has now admitted that if returned to office he will have to introduce the 'worst cuts in a generation.' Lord Mandelson just before Christmas announced nearly £1 Billion of cuts in University funding. South Yorkshire's Chief Constable has warned that he expects to see his police officers shrink in number by 15% due to cuts in funding. Derbyshire Police -already under funded every year by £5Million -face cuts too.
One thing is certain about the forthcoming election. Whoever wins cannot just carry on as normal -there has to be fundamental change. Neither should the bankers carry on with their vast bonuses when they are only in a job because they were baled out by vast sums of public money. As President Obama has set out to do with the US banks, we should be aiming to get every penny of tax payer's money back over the years to come.
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