Balls: Darling lost us the election
By politics.co.uk staff
Alistair Darling has come under fire from former Cabinet colleague Ed Balls for failing to rule out a VAT rise, which he has suggested lost Labour the election.
Mr Balls, whose campaign for the Labour leadership was hit when Mr Darling endorsed rival David Miliband, hit out in a newspaper article.
“I believed that if we made a principled case for ruling out a VAT rise, as well as against premature cuts in public spending, it would change the course of the election campaign,” he wrote in the Telegraph newspaper.
“On the doorstep, it would have allowed Labour candidates to make the choice for voters come alive in a way that we often struggled to do.”
Mr Balls’ criticism is being interpreted as a deft move to distance himself from Gordon Brown, who failed to overrule his chancellor from No 10.
He said he had urged the prime minister “to make our stance on VAT explicit in the Labour election manifesto” before adding: “But others disagreed.”
The shadow education secretary said Labour had been damaged by leaving open the raising of the standard rate while unequivocally ruling out the removal of the VAT zero rates.
“As the only serious opposition left in Britain, I believe Labour must fight this plan tooth and nail on behalf of the whole country, not just after the Budget – but now, when it can and must be stopped,” Mr Balls wrote.
