Brown and Cameron go head-to-head on economy
Gordon Brown and David Cameron have gone head-to-head on the economy, in their most openly hostile prime minister’s questions since the financial crisis began.
Mr Cameron launched his questions with an attack on Mr Brown’s statements when he was chancellor, in which he claimed to have abolished boom and bust.
Questioning the effectiveness of the government’s fiscal rules, Mr Cameron said: “They [Labour MPs] don’t like being reminded about their own fiscal rules. They used to enjoy the lectures so much.”
Mr Brown said the economic downturn began with the international banking sector, not national governments.
“If he doesn’t understand that’s the problem, he won’t be able to find a solution,” Mr Brown said.
The two leaders also locked horns over Mr Brown’s plans to use public spending as a mechanism to get the country through the recession.
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg called for that spending to be targeted towards assisting low and middle income families, rather than ID cards, a communications database and the NHS IT system.
Mr Brown responded by attacking Mr Clegg on his party’s commitment to cut taxes.
Mr Brown is enjoying a surge in opinion polls, indicating public support for his approach to the financial crisis.
A poll for politics.co.uk released yesterday, showed 65 per cent of respondents thought Mr Brown was handling the economic downturn well.
