For me, there’s nothing funnier than watching a die-hard politician vehemently insisting something one day, only for him or her to do the complete opposite a few days later. The history of politics is littered with shining examples of 180 U-turn spectaculars; most of these historic reversals have been caused by outright incompetence or the opposition of overwhelming public opinion. Perhaps one of the greatest political U-turns ever, or at least the dumbest one, goes to George Bush Snr for his apocryphal statement at the 1988 Republican Convention “read my lips, no new taxes!” A complete U-turn soon followed, and in 1990 Bush Snr was responsible for the second biggest tax increase in American history, when he added a whopping 56% onto gasoline taxation.
All governments are occasionally forced to make slight tactical withdrawals, turn around and head full speed in the other direction. Recently our magnanimous and gloriously unelected leader was forced to do a U-turn on his current election strategy. For weeks the PR spin coming out of Downing Street has attempted to suggest that Labour equals an investment in public services, compared to the Conservatives who will allegedly make drastic spending cuts on a variety of services. According to insiders the new change of direction is believed to have been orchestrated by the Dark Lord Darth Mandelson, who has become increasingly concerned over recent polling data which shows the Tories continuing to hold steady at 41%.
In an effort to climb back in the polls and cut the current deficit, Labour have announced a list of ‘compassionate’ cuts designed to save the country billions. Labour has already outlined £35 billion in efficiency savings, but the government now feels that it needs to do more to convince the public of its’ ability to lead the country out, or risk facing a complete Tory landslide in 2010.
On the home front things are still bleak, unemployment is reaching the 3 million mark and our current deficit is due to hit £175bn by the end of the year. Despite all the bad news there are encouraging signs that the world is getting back on track. Both France and Germany appear to be slowly escaping form the recession; the UK is still currently lagging behind our European allies, but estimates suggest that the UK economy will grow by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter of this year. The housing market also seems to be improving, the BBA (British Bankers’ Association) recently announced that the number of mortgages and first time buyer mortgages has risen by 7.4%, and banks seem to be once again approving loans. Savers have also benefited recently due to increased competition between institutions, the average savings account now receives a much better interest rate compared to earlier in the year.
If the country continues to climb out of the recession then Labour may, just may have a small chance of winning a fourth term, but it seems highly unlikely.
[...] is clear that some savings have to be made. Last month Gordon Brown announced his intention to save £35bn billions by streamlining government and making more efficient, but my question is this- If we can streamline government and make £35bn [...]