Did Ed Balls do well enough?<\/p>\n
Yes: he apologised, enough<\/p>\n
Yes, he stayed Keynesian thinking<\/p>\n
Yes, he talked of hope for ordinary people.<\/p>\n
The 5 point plan was good, politically (although not ambitious enough - but good\u00a0politically\u00a0for now). It was:<\/p>\n
a) Reinstate the bank bonus tax and build 25,000 homes to create 100,000 jobs<\/p>\n
b) Build infrastructure now<\/p>\n
c) Cut VAT on housing repairs to 5% to boost activity<\/p>\n
4) Cancel VAt increase to boost economy<\/p>\n
5) Give NIC boost to all small employers\u00a0creating\u00a0any new jobs<\/p>\n
They're\u00a0headlines, but they indicate a correct direction of travel and that's good.<\/p>\n
And he made clear that he does blame Tories for their very big mistakes - not\u00a0least for following the herd and Balls makes clear he'll make his own decisions.<\/p>\n
And he made clear he'll hold banks to account and business too - the mantra private is good is not accepted.<\/p>\n
Is that good enough? This is\u00a0politics\u00a0of course - he can't deliver any of this - but it was good politics bar his comments on strikes on\u00a0pensions.<\/p>\n
What was missing? The tax gap. An explanation as to how the national\u00a0investment\u00a0bank he was calling for would be funded. But that's to follow. This was good politics at present.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"