Former Labour Treasury Minister Liam Byrne MP famously left a letter for his successor saying, “Dear Chief Secretary, I’m afraid there is no money. Kind regards – and good luck! Liam”. 

 Labour left Britain with a mountain of debt. Their mismanagement means that for every minute that goes by costs the British people is a staggering £80,000 in interest.

Labour created the fiscal bombshell in the first place by refusing to take action against the banks – even when Vince Cable MP warned of the risks that they were taking. 

Despite Labour admitting that “there is no money”, we have Labour activists complaining in the letters page about the new Coalition Government’s measures to tackle the deficit. 

They complain – but yet Labour do not say how they would have made the £44 billion of cuts they themselves promised in their manifesto.

Presumably, Labour would be happy to spend £70 billion on debt interest, rather than dealing with the deficit. Until Labour accepts the blame for the mess they created and comes up with a plan for sorting it out, they cannot be taken seriously. 

 No political party had a majority after the election. Labour made it quite clear that they did not want to enter into a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.  The only alternative to a Liberal Democrat/Conservative Coalition was a minority Conservative Government – and that would have resulted in a far less progressive emergency budget. 

Thanks to the Liberal Democrats being in Government:  ·         nearly 900,000 have been taken out of paying income tax altogether;·         Top earners pay a full 10% more in capital gains tax;·         State pensions will now rise in line with earnings, inflation or by 2.5% whichever is the highest so that pensioners will never fall behind again.·         Tax Credits have been increased for the poorest, and £2.5 billion has been put into child tax credits so that children of all backgrounds get a good start in life. 

The progressive measures outlined above would not have been implemented by a minority Conservative Government, and were not put into place by Labour despite being in power for 13 years.