Evening Standard comment: Stopping Jeremy Corbyn is not the same as an economic plan; Don’t keep City secrets; New fire chief arrives

Evening Standard Comment11 December 2019
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

If Labour wins this week “the damage to economic confidence would be profound”, the Prime Minister warns Evening Standard readers today. As he says, it “would take our economy back to square one”.

It’s a powerful message. Assessing each party’s plans, the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies concludes that Labour’s “vision is of a state with a far greater role than anything we have seen for more than 40 years. They would tax and spend more than ever before”.

That’s a polite way of saying the party is putting forward a lethal mix of the unaffordable, the impossible and the irresponsible.

Voters should see right through it. That’s why the polls suggest that there isn’t going to be a majority Labour government. And if they are even half-right there probably won’t be a coalition one, either.

So a rather more important question is what a Conservative government would do to the economy. What do we know? Ignore the noise.

On spending, as the IFS says, there would be “little in the way of changes to tax, spending, welfare or anything else” apart from increases, announced before the campaign began, for the NHS and schools. That means a Conservative chancellor “would keep debt fairly constant as a fraction of national income”.

Or at least that sensible approach is the one it would follow if the economy doesn’t tank if faced with the hardest of Brexits next year.

But what if the government fails to agree a trade deal with the EU by next December? Even with goodwill in the talks (which isn’t certain) getting one in place will be a practical challenge. A lot of people think it will be impossible.

Yesterday a leaked document from the Brexit department described how hard it will be to agree terms for trade across the Irish border by then.

The Prime Minister insists this will not involve checks between Britain and Northern Ireland. Everyone else thinks it will. Of course, the Government could just extend the transition period agreed in the exit deal to keep current terms in place. But the Prime Minister says that won’t happen, either.

Maybe he’ll change his mind when faced with the alternative. It wouldn’t be the first time.

But Brexit is not the only uncertainty.

We know that the next Government will want to spend more on infrastructure. But where and how?

The Conservative manifesto does not mention Crossrail 2, the essential line planned to run under London to take the strain off the Tube. HS2 and Heathrow’s planned third runway are also vital projects which need to go ahead.

But the Prime Minister was vague about his personal commitment to them this week. Of course that might be because there’s an election on and his Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat is one of those affected. But we need clarity and government commitment.

Seeing off Jeremy Corbyn’s Marxist tribute act is what this week is about.

But it’s not the same as an economic policy.

Don’t keep city secrets

The Financial Reporting Council has a reputation for cracking the whip and missing its target. It makes the right noises but not much happens.

Take what’s just happened today. It has fined Grant Thornton £650,000 and one of its partners £20,000 for failures in the way it audited a publicly-listed company in 2016.

That’s good: auditing is a cosy world and investors need to be told the truth about the financial position of businesses.

This makes it all the stranger that we haven’t been told the name of the company involved.

We deserve to know.

New fire chief arrives

It’s just been announced that Andy Roe is London’s new Fire Commissioner.

He’s the right choice to replace Dany Cotton, who is stepping down after Grenfell.

Now he needs to win back public trust. We wish him well.

Listen to today's episode of The Leader:

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in