Meacher attacks spending cuts plan

Michael Meacher has accused the Tories of making the most vulnerable in society pay for the greed of city bankers.

The outspoken Oldham West and Royton MP said the Conservatives had launched one of the most audacious displays of “blame the victim” by demanding the sick and poor pay for the banking disaster through proposed cuts in public spending.

Mr Meacher said: “The Tories have made it clear that they will clobber public services and shrink the state. The financial crisis has given them the perfect excuse for doing what they always intended.”

The Labour MP also criticised his Government for competing in a “fixation” over public spending cuts with the Tories, both “mugging the victims not the culprits.”

He added: “What’s certainly not needed is a firesale of public sector assets, nor the shadow chancellor’s pay freeze for five million public sector workers.

“What’s needed in order to shorten the recession and prevent rising unemployment is the banks to switch from consolidating their balance sheets.”

He said a financial guru had said a “normal economic recovery would resolve the problem and that widespread cuts would create a crisis.”

The £75bn Trident renewal programme, the ID card scheme and vast numbers of Government IT databases should be scrapped to pay for the huge investment, he said.