George Osborne lets Ed Miliband demand the apology

Why did George Osborne, in his defence of the rise in VAT yesterday, fail to hammer home the message that it was only necessary because of Labour’s gross profligacy over the previous 13 years? In all the news bulletins I saw, he studiously avoided virtually any reference to the Blair/Brown years.

As a result, instead of being put on the spot about his party’s toxic legacy, it was Ed Miliband who was able to demand apologies yesterday, even though the damage was caused by the government of which he was a senior member! It’s a bit like a board member sacked from a bankrupt company demanding that the administrators say sorry for his mistakes!

If Ed Milliband is ever to have any credibility on economic matters, he and Gordon Brown first need at least to admit to – even if they cannot bring themselves to apologise for – mismanagement that, were the government a private sector concern, would quite probably merit investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.

I can only conclude that George Osborne was having an off-day in front of the cameras. He and the rest of the current government must never let the electorate forget that it was Labour’s ineptitude that reduced the economy to this parlous state.