Cable flip flops on cuts
VINCE Cable appeared to make a screeching U-turn yesterday on how to deal with the economy in order to fit in with a Tory coalition.
The former Lib Dem treasury spokesman, expected to take a key role in government with responsibility for banks and business, told City A.M. in March he would resist joining a coalition that called for immediate and drastic cuts in spending.
He said: “Self evidently I think, we think, that merrily slashing now is an act of economic masochism. So if anyone had to rely on our support, we were involved in government, of course we would say no, do it sensibly.”
But yesterday his opinion appeared to have flipped when he claimed: “I don’t see this as a party political or an ideological problem. We’ve got to be guided by economic sensibilities. Growing worries about sovereign debt mean the UK must now be more decisive than it would have had to be two or three weeks ago.
“Plus the economy is growing faster than thought. I hear the arguments that there may be an argument for moving faster.”