A Speech Brown Should Make..But Never Will.

"I welcome Barack Obama as the new President of the United
States.

Like myself, Obama is serious about redistributing wealth lower down the income scale (even if only modestly) and is also serious about avoiding a possible prolonged depression by implementing a fiscal stimulus now (the risks of doing nothing (or even worse Tory cuts) easily outweigh the risks of a slightly larger public debt).

David Cameron by contrast and in keeping with Tory tradition, wants to help not the most vulnerable but the most wealthy - his policies on tax cuts for those with large savings and large inheritances signifies this, as does his promise to cut public spending for those who are most vulnerable.

Thanks to a Labour government not the Tories, the UK's public debt is low (in international terms), and health and education spending have been vastly increased (though still low by OECD comparisons) and rising inequality has been slowed and put into reverse (though this is also still high in comparison to other developed nations thanks to Tory policies).

The Tories have just a few good ideas (on Heathrow, high speed trains and a smart grid - though I doubt their delivery on any of these) in a sea of regressive policies that would take us back to the worst excesses of Thatcherism. Where this Labour government has gone wrong is keeping to a Tory agenda on an unregulated banking system that has led to massive personal debt. For this I give an unreserved apology - the Tories cannot apologise because they do not yet think the coming recession is anything to do with short termist neo-liberal policies - a philosophy of greed they still adhere to. As a party of the left - Labour can change and will. In times like these people recognise this and know that deep down Cameron can only pay lip service to ideological change".