Apparently, Cameron
is worried that the election of Hollande in France might give people the
impression that ‘growth’ is an alternative to ‘austerity’. I can see why that might worry him – an alternative
narrative is clearly proving attractive, and that attraction is not limited to France.
Whether Hollande’s
actions will live up to his rhetoric is yet to be seen; it’s not only in the UK
that politicians exaggerate the differences between them at election times in
order to do exactly the same once safely in office. And whilst the rhetoric of the Labour Party
in the UK might at times sound as though they are going to follow a similar
narrative to that espoused by Hollande, the policy differences between the UK
Government and Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition are a great deal less significant
than the rhetoric might suggest.
As I understand the
Labour Party’s policy, it is that the cuts should be slightly smaller and made
slightly more slowly – that’s a long way short of a positing growth as an
alternative to austerity. The real
difference between government and opposition amounts to little more than
tinkering on the fringes. So Cameron is right to be worried electorally, but if he sincerely believes that the policies being followed are the right ones, then he probably has little to fear in economic terms from a change of government.
Posts
