Osborne: From Statesmanlike To Disingenuous

You didn't have to look too far for the main message George Osborne was trying to get across in this session.

"Let’s not think the problems are over - the job isn’t finished" and "lots done but still more to do" were among the soundbites best summing up the Chancellor’s position.

He sought, at almost every turn, to emphasise that, while the UK economy is recovering, the recovery is not yet secured.

The subliminal message underpinning that? "It’s not yet safe for you to start voting Labour again."

His other message was that this is a government trying to think ahead and plan for the long-term rather than coming up with short-term sticking plaster solutions.

That was very evident in the answers he gave to questions on the current failings of the business rates system and in response to a demand for VAT to be cut on tourism.

It was here that Mr Osborne was at his most statesmanlike.

Asked why a cut on VAT for tourism was not appropriate, he replied that the £10bn cost would be too much, that other countries to have tried it had not enjoyed the boost they had expected and that tourism would benefit more from the improvements he was making to the A303 and the rail link to the West Country.

"I think that is a better investment for the South West and the tourism industry in the South West … I do know in five, six, seven years’ time it will make a massive difference to people and businesses in the South West," he said.

Not much there for the people who run tourism in the Lake District, the Peaks or the Norfolk Broads, but you take his point.

The Chancellor was in equally long-termist mode where he discussed the perennial problem of business rates, pointing to the Government’s recent promise of a complete overhaul of the system, while pointing out he could not just abolish the system because it raises £20bn for the Exchequer each year.

And some questions were an open goal for him.

There was one particular question about "old people still dying because they can’t afford to heat their own homes" - something that has plainly not happened during the last winter - which enabled Mr Osborne to talk at length on the outrageous generosity this government has shown to pensioners and the stupendously generous bungs he has handed them while hacking away at the benefits paid to people of working age.

He was also on reasonably solid ground in questions on Europe and international trade and, when asked about housebuilding, the need to tackle Britain's sclerotic planning laws.

In this section, one could argue, the Chancellor actually underplayed one of his better cards - Help to Buy has undoubtedly revived the housing sector - as he also did when, asked about zero hours contracts, he only belatedly brought up this Government’s single strongest achievement, namely, the creation of 1,000 jobs every day of this Parliament.

In other areas, Mr Osborne was less convincing.

Tackled about the apparent unwillingness of the banks to lend to small business, the Chancellor waffled "I completely agree with you", which was disingenuous given that he effectively controls Royal Bank of Scotland and, for most of his time as Chancellor, could have exerted strong influence on both it and Lloyds Banking Group.

He was similarly disingenuous when, asked about zero hours contracts, he merely insisted that the best thing he could do was create more full-time jobs where it pays to work and claimed it was not possible to outlaw zero hours contracts “by passing a law”.

Really? Surely that is precisely what governments do if they disagree with something.

There were other areas where it would have been good to have seen the Chancellor pressed harder.

Having offered a stout defence of an independent Bank of England, someone might have come back to him, noting that the Chancellor sets the mandate for the Bank via the inflation target.

Similarly, while he trumpeted the recent tax cut for savers in his budget, nowhere was it noted that virtually nobody will have sufficient savings to earn £1,000 in interest.

And the major elephant in the room was the policy that Mr Osborne made his key target at the outset of this Parliament - to eliminate the deficit.

It was surprising that no-one tried to tackle him on this because, palpably, it has been this government's biggest single failure.