Tory tactics

Don't be fooled: the coalition government's request for departments to draw up plans for 40% cuts is more than just a softening-up exercise to prepare us for the eventual settlement. It is part of a wider scaremongering PR strategy designed to create a narrative that blames Labour profligacy for a massive economic collapse.

To be clear, we are not Greece, and Labour overspending on public services did not destroy the economy. Any rational analysis will conclude that accusations of Labour fiscal mismanagement are a distraction from the glaring truth - this was an economic collapse caused by the Thatcherite settlement of light-touch regulation in the financial sector.

We desperately needed a government prepared to address this, but through an electoral mishap we have been given the opposite.

Labour needs to shoulder blame for continuing the laissez-faire economic approach set out by the Tories in the 1980s. But the coalition is working very hard to blame the deficit on Labour spending, and in doing so they are trying to call into question the entire philosophy of tax and spend.

In supporting this Tory narrative, the Lib Dems are undoing all of Charles Kennedy's hard work in positioning his party to the left of New Labour. Let's hope it doesn't take Liberals too long to realize that Nick Clegg is compromising far too much for power.

They have chosen as their leader their very own Tony Blair - except without the electoral popularity.