PM faces cash backlash

10 March 2008

The Sun, David Wooding

Gordon Brown’s massive spending spree on public services has failed to meet its goals, a report reveals today.

A third of growth in national earnings is down to the expansion of taxpayer-funded jobs.

But it has held back the economy and left the UK ill-placed to face the challenges of the next decade, says think-tank Reform.

Its report claims the PM justified splurging money in the hope that it would transform schools and hospitals and boost productivity but achieved none of these aims. It describes spending on public services as a “flash flood” rather than “planned irrigation”.

And while many countries took advantage of the good years to cut spending and borrowing, Britain has increased spending, deficits and debt.