Inside Westminster: Spin, confusion and betrayal – it's just not fair, is it, Mr Brown?

Published on Thursday 27 November 2008 21:03

IN THE first term of his premiership, Tony Blair admitted the biggest mistake his government made was to pass off a measly 75p-a-week rise in pensions as a massive giveaway. I paraphrase, but you get the picture. The man in charge of that spin was Gordon Brown, the then Chancellor.

Why, one would ask, would he urge his successor to do the same with this year's Pre-Budget Report, passing off an inconsequential VAT cut – with goods already flying off the shelves at half the usual price before Christmas – as a bonanza equivalent for shoppers?

"No-one is pretending there is anything great in it. The economy is in a real mess," admits one loyalist.

The reality is that the discounted VAT rate of 15 per cent is thinly veiled state aid for retailers. They desperately need a shot in the arm and, with the problems at Woolworths and MFI, expect to hear ministers speaking more openly about the help required by the beleaguered sector.

The PBR began to unravel in record time this week.

A day after the mini-Budget was announced, the Treasury had to admit it had got its figures wrong on the excise duty on whisky and halved the proposed increase to ensure the industry was not grappling with prices rises before Christmas.

Then it transpired that the government had in fact plotted a rise in VAT in 2011 to 18.5 per cent.

And on the debacle over whisky, just how did the Treasury, the department that is meant to be blessed with the brightest brains, manage to get its sums so wrong.

After yet another recess, MPs will return on Wednesday for the Queen's Speech, which sets out the government's vision for the next year. Given the PM's obsession with consultation, not much of it is expected to be a surprise. There will be 17 bills, 14 of which will apply to Scotland. Among them will be greater powers for the Scottish Government over the marine environment – a cause championed by The Scotsman.

The overriding theme is "fairness". Now that Prudence has packed her bags, Mr Brown is courting fairness again. One would assume that, given the state of the economy, actually what he wants is us all to have a little faith.