Tory Economic Policy: Cuts for Families, Public Sector

The Telegraph provides a snap shot of the British Conservative Party's economic policies:

• A one year public sector pay freeze in 2011 (excluding the one
  million lowest
  paid workers)

• Bringing forward the date at which the state pension age starts to
  rise to 66,
  although it will not be sooner than 2016 for men and 2020 for
  women

• Stopping tax credits to families with incomes over £50,000

• Cutting spending on Child Trust Funds for all but the poorest third
  of
  families and families with disabled children

• Capping the biggest public sector pensions above £50,000

• A five per cent pay cut for Ministers followed by a five-year
  freeze, and a 10
  per cent reduction in the number of MPs

This is fairly typical Tory policy - cut spending on those who need it most and preserve it where completely unnecessary (the military and weapons spending, two major priorities of the Tory party). The Tories have been obsessing over deficits for months, even though they apparently didn't matter when the economy was booming. While there certainly is a real need to reduce the debt, cutting spending on those who need it most is a sure way to make the recovery more painful and more prolonged.

Britain needs a comprehensive plan to revitalize its industries and protect its worker's jobs. This means investment rather than cuts, and regulation rather than privatization. The Tories are operating on the assumption that the public will forget that conservative economic policies plunged the economy into the abyss. And it is up to Labour to remind them.