PBR in depth: Tories attack chancellor over forecasts
Shadow chancellor Michael Howard launched a fierce attack on Gordon Brown's pre-Budget report.
Link: Pre-Budget special report
ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ He said the increase in borrowing showed ‘a dramatic decline in public finances.’
‘This is a moment of humiliation for the Chancellor of the Exchequer,’ Howard said,
He added: ‘The chancellor has been forced to admit he got his forecasts for growth wrong; his forecasts for review were wrong; his forecasts for borrowing were wrong; his forecasts for the deficit were wrong.
‘These are the downgraded forecasts of a downgraded chancellor.
‘Everybody is to blame except the Chancellor.’
Howard said there was now a black-hole in the national accounts which was ‘entirely of the chancellor’s own making’ which had been hidden only by Enron-style acocunting.
And he accused Brown of trying to manipulate the economic cycle to try and hide the excessive borrowing he was indulging in.
Accusing Brown and prime minister Tony Blair of increasing tax and spending but failing to deliver improvements in public services, Howard said: ‘What a shambles! What a shower. There they sit – Brown and Blair the posturing pair.’