What Osborne didn't say

Interviewed/attacked by Humphrys this morning on Toady, George Osborne gave a satisfactory rebuttal.

He could have said, "Why ask me about what we would do now to overcome recession, because by the time we take power the situation could have changed markedly."

What he did say, and repeated in doing so, was that a major problem is a lack of credit. He offered the idea of a proper credit guarantee scheme. This need not cost the government much money or enlarge the gaping deficit.

What he should have said is that we shall have a bonfire of all those regulations which deter and hinder enterprise, and abolish the interference by much of quangoland. This would cost nothing and would be a great incentive for people to risk their own money, as well as borrowing, and would soak up some of the unemployment. Kenneth Clark's conference promise to cut out one existing piece of red tape for any new one was far too timid.

Bureaucratic red tape, constant changes in the minutiae of company legislation and the full panoply of compliance are a deterrent, as well as a cost on enterprise. Removing many of them would cost the government nothing in lost revenue, but it would liberate and save costs for business.