Public borrowing: Golden rule gets barely a mention

1.24.34pm GMT Thu 20th Nov 2003

Reacting to this morning's public finance figures showing a massive increase in Government borrowing of almost 400%, Vince Cable MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, said: "Unless Gordon Brown increases taxes he is going to be forced to break or fudge the Golden Rule. It's unsurprising that the Golden Rule barely gets a mention these days.

"The brutal truth is that nobody trusts the Government to judge its own performance anymore. It is essential to set up an independent review of fiscal performance - rather than the Government's system of only auditing some of the figures.

"Without an independent audit, there are genuine fears that the Government will fudge the figures by dressing up current spending as capital spending, or redefining when the cycle starts and ends."