Labour “must challenge the economic consensus”, Ed Balls is expected to say Labour leadership contender, Ed Balls, is to warn that the government’s austerity programme could tip the country back into recession.
He will say that the coalition’s plans for drastic cuts are like “removing the foundations of the house, just as the hurricane is about to hit”.
Mr Balls is expected to say Labour must challenge the government’s claim there is no alternative to swingeing cuts.
The shadow education secretary is to speak in the City of London later.
He will use the keynote speech to accuse Chancellor George Osborne of pursuing an “economically-unsafe” austerity programme which risks tipping the country into a double-dip recession.
Labour must come up with a “more sensible timetable” to tackle the deficit, he is expected to say.
Mr Balls will argue that Labour must not be afraid to challenge the consensus that there is a need for fast, substantial cuts to public spending – even if it means contradicting the governor of the Bank of England.
“We need now to win the argument for an alternative economic plan that is rooted in economic history and analysis, as well as in Labour values and principles,” he is expected to say.
“By ripping away the foundations of growth and jobs in Britain, David Cameron, Nick Clegg and George Osborne are not only leaving us badly exposed to the new economic storm that is coming, but are undermining the very goals of market stability and deficit reduction which their policies are designed to achieve,” he will say.
“George Osborne was fond of saying – wrongly – that the Labour government had failed to fix the roof while the sun was shining.
“What he is now doing is the equivalent of ripping out the foundations of the house just as the hurricane is about to hit.”
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