11th March 2009
Labour Split On Borrowing
Earlier at Welsh Questions I asked the Secretary of State, Paul Murphy, what he thought about the proposals by the Assembly Finance Committee’s and the Labour Party in Scotland in their submission to the Calman Commission had any merit. I was surprised to hear him say they had little merit and that the problem with borrowing is that some day you had to pay it back. As well as exhibiting a strangely simplistic approach to public finance (clearly not shared by the Chancellor) it’s difficult to square this with the position taken by the four Labour members of the Committee and indeed by the Scottish Labour Party (with the exception of Nat-finder General John Robertson MP who almost choked when I mentioned Calman). Paul did, however, confirm that discussions were ongoing on this issue. Maybe our own Holtham Commission is beginning to bear fruit – despite Paul Murphy’s instinctive devo-minimalism.
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