Cutting taxes to ease recession?
Updated on 10 November 2008
Tax cuts - from both Labour and the Tories - were on the agenda in the morning news meeting.
Tax cuts are at the top of the news list, with both Labour and the Tories looking increasingly likely to push them as a means of tackling the UK's economic downturn.
"Cameron's doing the mood-setting speech today, in order to give the details tomorrow. They're hoping to get two bites of the cherry."
"It's difficult for them to get the 'we care' message across without giving us the detail of what they're actually going to do, and how they're going to pay for it."
'They're going to try something different, although it seems to go against their "the cupboard is bare" message.'
"Part of the reason for the speech is saying the Tories won't just leave the economy - they're distancing themselves from the 'if it's not hurting, it's not working', laissez faire image."
"They're going to try something different, although it seems to go against their 'the cupboard is bare' message."
The Conservatives have repeatedly attacked Labour for racking up a big budget deficit.
Gordon Brown, who is giving a foreign policy speech at the Lord Mayor's banquet tonight, was on GMTV this morning laying the ground for a fiscal stimulus package - tax cuts look likely in order to get the economy moving.
"It's quite handy for Brown - the mood's generally shifting towards cutting taxes. Last year they went head to head with the Tories on inheritance tax.
"It's quite handy for Brown now to be able to ride the crest of a wave."
Why is the government looking at tax cuts now?
"They generally believe fiscal stimulus is good idea - and they're also trying to buy friends..."
'It's quite handy for Brown - the mood's generally shifting towards cutting taxes.'
"If you give these tax cuts, how long is it until you see the impact?"
"Some would say that the American slowdown would be deeper had they not had a massive fiscal stimulus package earlier this year."
"The idea is you make these tax cuts now, you borrow and have a big splurge, rather than doing it when the economy is totally depressed."
So what's the difference between the two parties' positions?
"Labour generally say we need to borrow now. The Tories are trying to say they can do it without borrowing, because the cupboard is bare."
