Balls: Osborn is sucking money away

Friday, 27 August 2010 12:00 AM

Ed Balls, shadow education secretary and Labour leadership contender, comments on revised growth figures:

"As the second storm looms everything he [George Osbonre] is doing is designed to suck money out of the economy and cut public investment, while his tax rises and benefit cuts will directly hit household finances at the worst possible time.

"It is the exact reverse of the policy which allowed Britain and the world to weather the first storm.

"By ripping away the foundations of growth and jobs in Britain David Cameron, Nick Clegg and George Osborne are not only leaving us badly exposed to the new economic storm that is coming, but are undermining the very goals of market stability and deficit reduction which their policies are designed to achieve.

"For all George Osborne's talk of 'deficit deniers' -- where is the real denial in British politics at the moment?

"Against all the evidence, both contemporary and historical, he argues the private sector will somehow rush to fill the void left by government and consumer spending, and become the driver of jobs and growth. This is 'growth denial' on a grand scale."

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