Shifting debates ...

29/09/2010

Last month, in the UK, Labour leadership contender Ed Balls gave a seminal speech at Bloomberg arguing against cuts and for investment. Until Balls' speech, UK polls showed people heavily in favour of cuts. The impact was immediate,a Populus polls for the Times on Sep 14, just a few days afterwards, put support for govt. cuts at 22%, slower cuts with more tax increases (Labour's policy then) at 34%, and prioritising the poor and the unemployed over the deficit at 34%. Yesterday, it could be argued that new Labour Leader Ed Miliband echoed many of the points originally made by Balls. Even without such interventions, it seems that public opinion here is turning against a continuation of current economic policies: 64 per cent of respondents to the current Irish Times online business poll believe that the recent disappointing economic growth figures should force a change in economic strategy.

Posted in: Economics

Tagged with: alternativeeconomicstrategy

Share:



Comments

Newsletter Sign Up  

Categories

Contributors

Robert Sweeney

Robert Sweeney is a policy analyst at TASC and focuses on issues surrounding Irish …

Paul Sweeney

Paul Sweeney is former Chief Economist of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. He was a …

Vic Duggan

Vic Duggan is an independent consultant, economist and public policy specialist catering …



Podcasts