Today, the Guardian newspaper published a letter I penned yesterday rebutting an astonishing claim by Lord William Wallace, LibDem foreign affairs spokesman in the unelected chamber, which appeared the previous day.
"William Wallace (Letters, 4 April) seems to have forgotten Labour policies pre-2010 were tackling the budget deficit. The economy was growing again and the budget deficit was smaller than forecast. There was no mess. The idea that welfare spending under Labour accounted for the "overhang of debt" rather than the banking crisis and collapse of tax revenues highlights the political poverty of Beveridge's successors in the Liberal Democrat party. No responsible member of the Labour party denied that the deficit needed further attention. Wallace and his party may console themselves with tinkering with tax loopholes and personal allowances. But nothing should distract the electorate from the coalition mess that has stalled the economy since 2010 and resulted in much higher government borrowing than planned by Labour." (my emphasis)
When will the Labour Party frontbench start nailing the lie about the mess?
Is it because the real mess was disagreement within government and hence the then Parliamentary Labour Party about how best to tackle the inevitable increase in the country's budget deficit and indebtedness as a result of the financial crash, bank bailout(s) and fall in tax revenues?
Time for some leadership, and focus on what mattered in the run-up to the 2010 election and still matters now - growth, job creation and a means to reduce the budget deficit - things the Coalition has failed to deliver after three years in government. If that means hanging the last of the Blairites out to dry, so much the better.