Gordon Brown's record

Edward Heathcoat Amory in The Mail points out the truth about "What has Gordon Brown got to show for 12 years in power?". Here's an extract:

"Twelve years ago, Gordon Brown rose, brimming with self-confidence, to deliver his first Budget speech to the Commons as New Labour's Chancellor of the
Exchequer.

Today, as he fights for his political life with a make-or-break speech to the Labour Conference, we look back at what Mr Brown said ... and whether he delivered.

THEN: 'The Chancellor is first and foremost the guardian of the public finances – the people's money ... Public finances must be sustainable over the long term ... I will ensure an historic break from the short-termism and expediency that have characterised the recent fiscal policies of our country.'

NOW: This year Britain will borrow £225billion, and Labour plans to increase the national debt to £1.4trillion by 2013. It has yet to set out proposals for cutting spending.

THEN: 'The objective behind our two-year-long corporate tax review has been to develop a tax system that encourages personal savings.'

NOW: The savings ratio – the percentage of our income that Britons save for the future - fell from often over 10 per cent under the Tories to 2 per cent and lower during the last few years of Labour government as ministers destroyed all the Tory tax incentives for saving.

THEN: 'Many pension funds are in substantial surplus ... so this is the right time to undertake a long-needed reform ... with immediate effect I propose to abolish tax credits paid to pension funds and companies.'

NOW: This reckless pensions tax grab is calculated to have knocked £100billion off
the value of British pensions and contributed to death of the final-salary scheme – in the private sector at least."

Read the whole piece and have it to hand when Gordon Brown gets up to deliver his speech to Conference, full of the usual 'brownies' and unsubstantiated attacks on Conservative policy.