Last August Ed Balls set out his vision for Labour's economic policy. That speech is available here.
Few argue that this was a very good speech - even a significant speech.
It shows Ed Ball's ability as a thinker and his willingness to fight for what he believes in.
And to have wasted that talent was always going to be wrong.
I feel immensely sorry for Alan Johnson - he is clearly going through deep personal anguish. I am not surprised he could not face being shadow chancellor at the same time. And maybe his appointment has done its task anyway - to be indication of a transition, albeit a shorter one than was planned. But the real work needs to be done by Labour now, and transitional periods need to be over. The ConDems are wrecking the UK. And Labour has not been an effective opposition to this process as yet.
I hope Ed Miliband has the sense to let Ed Balls fight.
I know it will be said Ed Balls will alienate people. Of course he will. But they would never have voted for Labour anyway.
And I know there are those who say another safe pair of hands should have been appointed - and my answer is 'no way'. We had such policy from Labour for far, far too long.
What people want right now is a bruiser. A man who will fight. Who will fight for public services, for jobs, for the value of the state, for the need to properly fund public services, for the need to create employment that will generate the tax we need to pay for public service, and who will reject the idea that Goldman Sachs' bonuses do so when all they do is threaten the very core of our democracy by putting at risk the very viability of our currency.
What we need now is very marked distinction between Labour and Tory (let's forget Lib Dem). This is no time for another Labour neoliberal apologist. This is the time for a Keynesian. The time for a person who believes that solving unemployment solves the recession and solves the deficit.
This is the time for someone who can offer hope.
Ed Balls was not meant to be leader of the Labour Party. But he is in the right job now. I hope he realises that. And I hope he can now deliver to his full potential. Because that is what we need.
Of course the Tories are saying his appointment is a disaster today. It is - but only for them.
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Agree with much of this. The Tories are beginning to tumble in the polls, the economic numbers are heading south as predicted, so now is the right time to really put the boot in.
Hopefully Mr Johnson will be back in front line politics soon. Labour needs him.
Well said Richard … I just wanted to add to your list, someone who will fight for the dire plight of those with disability or long term sickness, who cannot get a job even if the private assessment companies rate them able, and there were not 5 for every vacancy.
Unleash the BALL! If anyone is going to beat the cr&p out of the Tories it Ed – the Tories are terrified of him and with good reason. Osbourne is quite simply not in the same league as Mr Balls intellectually (Osbourne is not especially bright in my opinion)
Come on Ed – at the moment you are our Obi Wan Kenobi: You are our only hope!
In 1997, tax receipts and government spending were both £375bn while GDP less government activitywas about £530bn.
By 2010 that £530bn figure had grown to £650bn (up 20%), while tax receipts had grown to £530bn (up 41%), but government spending had grown to £700bn (up 100%).
You don’t have to be an economist to see where the countries problems lie and Balls had a big hand in causing the mess the country now finds itself.
@Alex
The trouble with your argument is a) your date looks to be wrong and b) you ignore causality – that the deficit was solely caused by the need of the government to bail out the private sector
Which makes all you say a waste of time
I think it’s high time you joined the blocked list again – you’re wasting my time and other reader’s time with these crass comments
@Richard Murphy
Do you really believe the deficit was caused solely by the need to bail out the banks?
The tax revenues generated by the City were unsustainable. Labour thought they weren’t and predicated their spending plans on an ever-increasing inflow of tax.
You seem unable or unwilling to accept that these tax revenues are now no longer here and, more importantly, that this loss is likely to be permanent.
You – like Labour – are living in a dream world.
@Geoff Lawson
My point is a simple one – public services are not predicated on banking
They are predicated on the choice in the ballot box about how we create and use our national wealth – wealth created by the public and private sector of this country – and not the preserve of one and not the other