Bernard Ingham: Our foolish politicians promise more spending and ignore the essentials

Don’t they understand this is just as likely as Chancellor 
George Osborne’s Help to Buy mortgage scheme to put up the cost of the very thing they are misguidedly trying to bring within easier reach?

Did it never occur to them that it would cause an outcry from stay-at-home mothers who are considered a greater social asset than working wives in anti-social Britain?

In any case, surely they must know by now that the last thing any prudent government should do is to introduce a new benefit.

Once paid, they are the very devil to withdraw.

If they must, channel help to the married through the tax system which, blow me down, is exactly what the Tories uniquely propose to do sometime.

Then there is that small matter of a budget deficit of £120bn after three years of trying to reduce Gordon Brown’s painful legacy. Did nobody in the Treasury tell the Cabinet there is no money to throw around?

If you thought this was the end of our politicians’ folly, you were sadly mistaken.

The Liberal Democrats, daft as brushes, have just held out the prospect if they ever became involved in government again of providing 10 hours a week free care for one and two-year-olds.

And Chris Leslie, Shadow Treasury Minister, one of many Labour MPs chafing at the bit of Ed Miliband’s leadership, promises his party will come forward with “goodies” for the voters.

If that is not a further demonstration of Labour’s unfitness for office after its last effort, I don’t know what is.

But still it gets worse. This is because, with 20 months to go to the election, it now seems that our politicians can think of only one way of winning – handing out goodies we cannot afford, regardless of their effect, their long-term consequences or, indeed, the desirability of persuading the people to stand on their own two feet.

Lest it be said that I am too much of a puritan for this 
world, I fully acknowledge that bribery is at the root of most election manifestos. We have advanced only marginally since Eatanswill. In any case, there is not much point in putting people off when you want them to vote for you.

But there are different ways of helping people. So far, our politicians have not come within striking distance of building a stronger nation with real moral fibre.

The Chancellor has undoubtedly been pretty consistent, if too 
slow, in reducing the budget deficit and thereby limiting the rise in the national debt. But 
when his constancy is apparently being rewarded with modest growth now is certainly not the time for any relaxation as suggested by £1,200 childcare vouchers.

Before he charges Labour with being prepared to borrow £50bn a year extra if they form the next government, he needs to stand up loud and clear for Tory prudence – indeed, parsimony. If he doesn’t, nobody will.

All Leslie’s goodies in the 
world will do the British people 
no good at all if we falter in bringing public finances under control. They would simply pile up the debt and postpone the time when we are more rather than less masters of our fate in a globalised world.

It may not be a comfortable message. It may seem politically neglectful when other parties are inclined to be very free with the taxpayers’ money on “goodies”. But it is responsible. And what we need today are responsible politicians who put the national interest first.

Above all, the Chancellor should make an early speech explaining why the job of balancing Britain’s books is only 20 per cent completed – ie by so far eliminating only about £30bn of the £156bn inherited budget deficit. In the rising euphoria about the improving economy, we need to be reminded of the hard journey we still have to travel.

This nation has done very well without childcare vouchers so far. It has done very badly by spending (and borrowing) far more than we have in the bank. After a good five years, we still have a smaller economy than we started the recession with.

We need to concentrate on the essentials – slashing the deficit, raising education standards, improving the NHS’s performance, ending welfare dependency, reducing immigration, fighting crime and renegotiating our EU relationship.

Let’s have no more Gordon Bennett moments.