Ed Balls: Windfall from bailed-out banks to repay national debt
Monday, 26 September 2011 10:08
Ed Balls is to unveil his five point plan for growth at today's Labour party conference, which includes paying off the national debt through the sale of Britain's nationalised banks.
In a speech to delegates in Liverpool today (September 26th), the shadow chancellor will outline his strategy that he believes will lead the economy to recovery.
This plan would include a bank bonus tax to pay for youth jobs and houses, a temporary VAT cut and "tough medium term rules for credibility".
He will add that he is "deeply sorry" over the failures in banking regulation from his party's time in office which contributed to the depth of the financial crisis.
Mr Balls will go on to promise not to reverse every spending cut by the coalition, "however unpopular or dangerous" they are.
Should his party win the next election, he will state, they will "use any windfall gain from the sale of bank shares to repay the national debt. That will be Labour's choice - fiscal responsibility in the national interest."
Mr Balls will add that there is at present a "global growth crisis" that is becoming "more dangerous by the day".
He will say his growth plan "will help get the economy moving again and stop the vicious circle on the deficit - but by itself it won't secure our economic future or magic the deficit away".
Difficult decisions will have to be on taxation and spending, which will mean "tough fiscal rules" to get the country's budget back in balance, he is set to add.
A Conservative party spokesman suggested Mr Balls had "deliberately fiddled" fiscal rules in the past and the voters would not trust his announcement of new regulations.
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