Brown plans 'will force up taxes'
Gordon Brown's plans to "spend his way out of recession" risk deepening the downturn and saddling future generations of Britons with massive tax hikes, shadow chancellor George Osborne warned.
In a speech drawing dividing lines between Conservative and Labour approaches to the economic crisis, Mr Osborne branded the Prime Minister "irresponsible" for suggesting the Government can "borrow without limit" to stave off recession.
And he said that the policy of borrowing more to pay for a state "spending splurge" was "a cruise missile aimed at the heart of the economy", which would force taxes up in the long term by the equivalent of 4p on income tax.
In his first speech since he acknowledged making mistakes over his contacts with Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, Mr Osborne sought to put the "Yachtgate" row behind him and return to the offensive on the economy.
He accused Mr Brown of abandoning fiscal responsibility in favour of the "failed and discredited" Keynesian demand management techniques which led to soaring inflation in the 1970s.
In his half-hour address at the London School of Economics, Mr Osborne said that voters now have a clear choice between future Labour tax hikes to repay huge national debt, or a Tory "responsible road to recovery" which will eventually bring down levies.
Mr Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling have insisted that they will allow government debt to rise and spend in a bid to keep the economy on track.
But Mr Osborne said this approach was the "weak, irresponsible choice" and would make it more difficult for the Bank of England to achieve a "sustained reduction in interest rates".
"It saddles this generation and the next with a burden of debt that could take a decade or more to pay off," warned the shadow chancellor.
"It means you end up spending more on paying debt interest than defending your country or educating your children. It means damaging tax rises at the very moment when you want to be reducing taxes to help the recovery."
