Shadow Chancellor: Labour’s aim should be to run a surplus in normal times

Chris Leslie has said Labour’s aim should be to run a surplus in “normal times”.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, the Shadow Chancellor argued that this was important for Labour to gain economic credibility:

“This notion that Labour just wants to throw money at issues, that’s not where we should be at all. I think Labour should aim to run a surplus in normal times if the economic circumstances allow. We’re past £1.5 trillion in terms of national debt. It stands to reason that any government should want more income coming in than expenditure.”

Leslie criticised Osborne’s plans to cut tax credits as a “risky strategy” but went on to say Labour should be willing to consider these changes “if the government can produce solid evidence that there is an alternative way of improving work incentives”.

He also said that Labour “do want welfare reform, saying we “have to get serious about public service reform. That’s a really important change that we need to communicate to the public. The amount of overpayment fraud and error in welfare is £3bn a year. I think we need to get into rooting out abuses.”

He went on to argue that there are three questions that Labour should ask themselves when considering the economy: “Have you got strong national security? Can you run your public services at a very basic viable level? And of course can you protect the most vulnerable in society?”

Leslie also critiqued Labour’s pre-election health proposals:

“We had a good analysis of what is happening in the NHS but our policy solution was 20,000 nurses and 8,000 GPs. You end up looking as if you’re suggesting this is simply a financial solution to a complex series of problems. You’ve got to be very careful not to give the impression that spending taxpayers’ money is the only route to reform.”