The Conservative Party’s reaction to what I said at the weekend shows they just don’t get it

By Ed Balls

My message to David Cameron is: wake up to what’s happening in the world. Do you understand the reality of this global financial crisis? And if you do, then why aren’t you backing our action to get us through these difficult times?

The fact is every country in the world is affected by what’s happening in global financial markets. And from President Obama in America to Premier Wen Jiabao in China, leaders around the world are taking fiscal action to stimulate their economies. Only the British Conservatives oppose this action.

I see that this afternoon Boris Johnson has now made his own serious contribution, saying that “ministers like Ed Balls…now seem to be rejoicing and wallowing in the very recession that Labour caused” and that “Ed Balls is aptly named”.

Is that the best the Mayor of London can do? And what is his economic plan for the capital, other than pretending that this is not an unprecedented global recession which is affecting every economy in the world? The Tories don’t seem to have a clue.

As President Obama has said we are “in the midst of an unprecedented crisis that calls for unprecedented action”. It is a global financial crisis more extreme than anything we have seen in the past 100 years. And it is affecting every country in the world in a way we have never seen before.

These times require government to do extraordinary things. We can get through this, but we need to keep the investment flowing, get the banks lending again and give real help to families who face losing their homes or their jobs.

But instead of supporting the fiscal stimulus, Boris Johnson is scrapping infrastructure projects in London and the Tories nationally are actually proposing to cut public spending from April this year. The £910 million of cuts they want to make to my Department and John Denham’s Skills Department is the equivalent of cutting 220,000 apprenticeship places for young people and adults at the worst possible time.

What we need is a cross-party consensus. But there’s no chance of that until David Cameron and his Party wake up to what’s going on around the world.

Read Ed’s speech from last weekend here.

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