Outgoing head of the CBI slams the government on growth

Richard Lambert has launched an uncompromising but constructive assault on the government’s growth strategy, or lack of it. He said: “The government is…talking about growth in an enthusiastic and thoughtful way… But it’s failed so far to articulate in big picture terms its vision of what the UK economy might become under its stewardship. What I feel is that a number of their initiatives – I’m thinking of the immigration cap, I’m thinking about their move on the default retirement age, about the carbon reduction commitment – have actually made it harder for companies, or less likely for companies to employ people. And what we want, actually, is a sense of direction, a sense of ambition.” It’s a common refrain. The Conservatives campaigned on the deregulation of small businesses at the last election; they are yet to deliver, something for which they are being criticised. In fact, several business bodies lament the onset of yet more regulation. – Spectator

Sir Richard Lambert, retiring boss of the CBI has had a fairly comprehensive blast at the Government’s “supply side” polices on the economy, and especially Vince Cable, asking the key question; “Where’s the growth going to come from?” He’s right to ask, and right to suggest some concrete things – genuine public investment – that only the state can do and which will yield real returns in the decades to come. Prime among these is boosting the UK’s electricity generation capacity, though Sir Richard ducks the great nuclear debate (my own view is that we may end with just no other choice in the matter, though I dread the risks). He is also probably right on the UK’s quixotic new bribery laws, another gift from us to French commerce. – the Independent

The government has struggled to develop a growth agenda. It cancelled plans for a White Paper on the subject. It published, instead, a list of problems rather than solutions. The chancellor and the business secretary are seeing ministers from every department in turn to ask them what they’re doing to help the economy grow. The fear in Whitehall is no longer a double dip recession but a jobless recovery. Ministers feel that they have won the debate on the deficit. Sir Richard Lambert’s speech is a reminder than they are not yet winning the debate about how to get the economy growing.- BBC

News Corp referred to Competition Commission but more questions for Hunt

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt is likely to be the subject of fresh criticism today following the news this morning that he has granted Rupert Murdoch a stay of execution over a referral to the Competition Commission of News Corp’s takeover bid for BSkyB. Mr Hunt has claimed he is simply following legal advice but the move could prove controversial. Labour has questioned whether the Prime Minister broke the ministerial code of conduct by meeting the European Chairman of News Corporation, James Murdoch, just days after stripping Vince Cable of the power to decide the fate of NewsCorp’s bid for control of BSkyB. – PoliticsHome

The Crown Prosecution Service is to adopt a “robust approach” in examining “recent or new substantive allegations” of phone hacking. As David Cameron faced renewed pressure over his close links to News Corp, the director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, said he had agreed the approach with the leadership of the Metropolitan police yesterday. Last night’s announcement by the DPP came amid signs that the illegal phone-hacking scandal may be extending beyond newspapers in the Murdoch stable. Paul Marsden, a former Liberal Democrat MP, told the BBC last night he had begun legal inquiries to find out whether his phone was hacked by the Daily Mirror in 2003. Marsden, who defected to the Lib Dems from Labour in 2001, told Radio 4’s PM programme: “We have started those legal inquiries with a specific journalist and also the Mirror Group. If it turns out to be true, I would like it exposed in a court of law. I want to know the truth.” – the Guardian

DAVID Cameron was slammed yesterday for having dinner with James Murdoch as the Government considers whether to let his company take over BSkyB. The Prime Minister socialised with Mr Murdoch, son of News Corporation mogul Rupert Murdoch, over Christmas. Just days earlier the PM gave Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt the final say on whether the Murdochs’ £7.5billion takeover could go ahead. – the Mirror

Balls comes out fighting

Ed Balls, the new shadow chancellor, claimed on Saturday that the government’s “reckless gamble” of massive spending cuts was already harming the economy as the country headed for high unemployment, lower mortgage lending and slower growth. Balls, who was promoted last week after the surprise resignation of Alan Johnson, showed signs of a newly combative approach as he claimed that the coalition had turned a promising economic outlook into a gloomy one by pushing through “the fastest, deepest deficit reduction in Britain’s peacetime history”. Labour MPs had become frustrated during the first months of Ed Miliband’s leadership at how the coalition managed to pin all blame for the deficit on Labour. They were also dismayed at how Tories and Lib Dems had convinced large sections of the public that there was no alternative to their strategy of savage fiscal retrenchment. – the Guardian

The appointment of Ed Balls as Shadow Chancellor is great news for the country. Alan Johnson is a nice man but a fighter is needed for these tough times. Alan simply wasn’t challenging the ConDems’ economic policy of cuts, cuts and more cuts. Ed’s background means he is well prepared. He left Oxford University with a first class degree then went to Harvard. I first met him in the 90s when he was a young ­journalist in the States on the Financial Times. We would chat about economic policy and even in those days it was obvious he was headed for big things. Ed will challenge Slasher Osborne and his mistaken programme of austerity that isn’t working. He is aggressive, smart, passionate and a battler with a big advantage over the coalition – a really good understanding of economics. He will quickly challenge the ConDems’ long list of ­broken promises – VAT, tuition fees and the slashing of public sector jobs nobody voted for. – David Blanchflower, the Mirror

Labour’s alternative plan would put jobs and growth first. Instead of doing backroom deals with the banks on the disclosure of their pay, we would apply the bank bonus tax again. It brought in £3.5 billion last year which could be used this year to help create the jobs and growth we need. The lesson of history is that good economics is good politics. But when Chancellors put political ideology or expediency before economic logic, the country pays a heavy price. This Tory Chancellor and this Tory-led government are repeating the mistakes of the 1930s and 1980s, but they just keep ploughing on. They had a choice about which path to go down, and it is already becoming clear they have made the wrong choice.  It is not too late to change course. It is not too late for an alternative. And if they do not provide it to the British people, Ed Miliband and I will. Of course we do not oppose every cut, but the Tory-led government is cutting too far too fast. And over the coming weeks and months, we will hold them to account for the reckless gamble they have taken, and the historic mistake they have made. – Ed Balls

Coulson departure raises more questions

Gordon Brown has asked the police to investigate whether he was the victim of phone hacking, The Independent on Sundayhas learnt. Mr Brown has written at least one letter to the Metropolitan Police over concerns that his phone was targeted when he was Chancellor, during the latter stages of Andy Coulson’s reign as editor of the News of the World. Mr Brown’s aides last night declined to comment. It is understood that Scotland Yard sought clarification from the former prime minister after his request. Sources have told The IoS that Tony Blair, his predecessor as prime minister, had also asked police some months ago to investigate whether messages left by him had been the subject of hacking (he did not have his own mobile phone until after he left No 10). – Independent on Sunday

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