FactCheck: George Osborne's speech
Updated on 29 September 2008
The shadow chancellor gave a keynote address at party conference today, but did the man who wants to be in charge of the country's finances get his facts straight?
The claim
"For a year the government knew there was a problem with Bradford & Bingley...but it dithered and delayed."
George Osborne, shadow chancellor, 29 September 2008
The analysis
Of course, it is impossible to ascertain what government actually "knew" about Bradford & Bingley (B&B) 12 months ago, or indeed what was known at the Bank of England or within the confines of the Financial Services Authority's Canary Wharf offices.
However, at the start of 2008 it seemed - to the public at least - that B&B was not doing too badly. At the turn of the year its shares were valued at a respectable 278.5p; while in February 2008 it posted profits of £126m.
Such profits were down on the previous year, but not bad in the context of the changing economy. It did not have the appearance of a bank on the verge of collapse.
Brown and Darling may well have heard whispers that the bank was in trouble, they may even have received briefings, but Osborne is perhaps going a little over the top in suggesting they "dithered and delayed" for a year over a bank that just seven months ago was posting a £100m-plus profit.
The claim
"It's the Conservatives who published a report on problem debt three years ago and ran a national campaign to warn people of its dangers."
George Osborne, shadow chancellor, 29 September 2008
The analysis
This touches on what will be one of the Tories' key themes over coming months, that Brown is the godfather of the "age of irresponsibility" and - contrary to the PM's comments last week - did not fix the roof when the sun was shining.
In March 2005, the Conservatives did indeed publish a report into spiraling levels of UK personal debt, something the government was not too keen to officially highlight.
The Tory findings were echoed by the International Monetary Fund just months later. So on that score Osborne was correct.
The claims that the Conservatives launched a national campaign on the issue are correct too - but have to be taken with a pinch of salt.
The initiative started in 2006, and involved setting up www.sort-it.co.uk which provocatively warned young people to "ignore the tosser in you" and reduce spending. It asked people to post confessions of over-spending on the site, in a bid to stop them doing it and to warn others.
However, the commitment was seemingly only short term. If you click on the website for help today you just get re-directed to the Conservatives' homepage - with no advice about money worries to be found.
The claim
"We will do what no government has done before - we will set up an office for budget responsibility, independent of government. This independent office will stand in judgment over our commitments; hold us to our promises."
George Osborne, shadow chancellor, 29 September 2008
The analysis
"No more fiddling of the rules. No more dodgy statistics," vowed Osborne today.
He said his party wants to introduce a new independent office to oversee government spending, holding the politicians to account.
It's the sort of promise that appeals to the public, but it will have been met by some bemusement by any staff at the National Audit Office (NAO) who took in Osborne's speech during their lunch breaks today.
The NAO's mission statement is to: "Audit the financial statements of all government departments and agencies, and many other public bodies.
"We also report to Parliament on the value for money with which these bodies have spent public money."
Sounds pretty similar to the shadow chancellor's plans, the NAO is also an independent body.
Further explanation of Osborne's proposals will shed more light on what exactly the new office would entail, but it seems more like a new name than a new idea.
The Public Accounts Committee and the Treasury Select Committee - although not strictly independent - could be argued to perform similar auditory functions too.
The sources
Treasury Select Committee
National Audit Office website
The claim
"I can tell you today that the next Conservative Government will freeze your Council Tax for at least two years."
George Osborne, shadow chancellor, 29 September 2008
The analysis
It was the one part of Osborne's speech - apart from the end - which was greeted with uproarious applause by the audience.
They were clapping so much they could have missed the caveat which the shadow chancellor threw in, that, in fact, the freeze would relate to: "Every council tax bill of every family in every council that takes part will be frozen".
The Conservatives have explained that the cost of the scheme will be met jointly by central government and town halls. If authorities can keep their council tax bill hikes to just 2.5 per cent, government will pick up the tab.
Town halls - and police and fire authorities who have precepts on the council tax bills too - will be free to reject the scheme if they feel they can't fit within it. Quite how many authorities sign up to it in the end, if the Tories get in, remains to be seen.
It's not quite as clear cut and Osborne's initial boast seemed to suggest.
The sources
Full text of George's Osborne's speech to Conservative Party Conference, 29 September 2008
