Hague: Brown has left Britain in limbo
PRIME Minister Gordon Brown continued his 'tour of Britain' today as Conservatives claimed he had lost all authority to push through legislation - effectively leaving Britain in a state of limbo.
The accusation, from shadow foreign secretary William Hague, came after a day in which plans to part-privatise the Royal Mail were dropped, the Government moved to renationalise a major rail franchise and MPs voted down a key element of Mr Brown’s reforms to parliamentary expenses.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister was forced to defend himself against allegations of “deceit” as Conservatives sought to make the political row over public spending into an issue of Mr Brown’s personal honesty.
In an acrimonious exchange at Prime Minister’s Questions, Tory leader David Cameron branded Mr Brown’s claim that the Conservatives were planning to slash spending by 10% as a deceit and urged him to admit that investment will have to fall after the election.
To jeers from the Conservative benches, Mr Brown conceded there would be a “zero percent rise” in overall spending under Labour’s plans in 2013/14 - though he later said this had been a mistake which he had been unable to correct in the noisy atmosphere of PMQs.
Last night, Mr Brown insisted he was being honest about the state of the public finances.
“I have always told the truth and I’ve always told people as it is,” he said, in a series of interviews as he toured the country by train.
“Yes, it is going to be tough but I believe the issue is that we want to protect these frontline services - our hospitals, our schools, our policing - and we don’t want to have the 10 per cent cuts the Conservatives are talking about.”
But asked if individual programmes might be cut to move funding to the frontline, he told BBC News: “If these programmes are cut then that’s fine, but I’ve got no interest in keeping inefficient services that are not useful to society or the economy growing.”
Mr Brown suffered a further setback last night, as a key element of his package of reforms to the parliamentary expenses system was defeated by a margin of three votes in the House of Commons.
Two of Labour’s most senior grandees, former Home Secretary John Reid and former Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, were among 25 rebels who ensured defeat for a proposal to make parliamentary proceedings admissible as evidence in court.
The Parliamentary Standards Bill - introduced in response to the expenses scandal - cleared its Commons stages and will now go to the House of Lords.
Meanwhile, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson was forced to put his flagship plan to part-privatise the Royal Mail on hold, as he admitted there was “no prospect” of finding a private partner in the current economic conditions.
Mr Hague said a single day had seen “the Royal Mail U-turn, a disastrous Prime Minister’s Questions and a defeat in the House of Commons”.
“This is a Government in chaos. Gordon Brown has lost the authority, unity and ability to govern,” said Mr Hague.
“Even Peter Mandelson isn’t in charge of the Labour Party any more.
“Gordon Brown and the Labour Government have totally lost their direction, as well as the capacity to lead Britain through the difficult times we are facing by failing to be honest with the British people.”
Mr Brown was today due to visit the north of England as he continues his tour.
