John Major says it how it is

In an article for the Telegraph, John Major sets out the differences between his government and Brown's government.

It's striking because of the utter truth - in the 80s and 90s the Tories built up a strong economy, especially on the supply-side, and got inflation under control; they did put unpopular policies in place and lost the election in 1997 because of it.

Both are/were weak leaders not totally in control of their party, and that's probably the only similarity (and both were Europhiles, which brought down Major's government).

No soundbites, just real politics.

The Budget: death throes of this government

The Budget this afternoon is an utter mess. The government think that they are helping, but they aren't. It shows so many reasons why governments, especially when left-wing, should not get involved.

The message of the tax rises is that if you are a wealth creator, stay well away. The 50% rate is just going to send our top businessmen, etc, to Switzerland, Monaco, Andorra..... In short-termist electioneering, the government has put short-term gain over long-term growth. They borrowed to the extremes, and now they want to please their core voters.

The real change should be a tax CUT, and a corporation tax cut to make our economy competitive and to give entrepreneurs an incentive. I certainly hope that Cameron and Osborne oppose this political rent-seeking.

As for the car scrappage scheme, it will help foreign economies not our own (BMW, Mercedes, Audi et al) and will cost a huge amount to the taxpayer.

Then the news that they are putting half a billion towards those noisy monstrosities that tend to end up where local people don't want them. Let private companies supply the demand (which is very low) and don't waste taxpayers' money on them.

He's also optimistic in his predictions. They are confident, but we aren't. Do you know what will make me confident? A change of government, with policies that give me confidence in the future. Cameron, sort it out.