Tony ought to be listening to Europe

Matthew Lynn

Lectures from the European Union on fiscal discipline are hypocritical and pointless. It would be te...

Lectures from the European Union on fiscal discipline are hypocritical and pointless. It would be tempting for the UK Government to ignore the latest shots from Brussels about how the country's budget deficit is running out of control. Tempting, but wrong. The EU isn't in a position to lecture Britain because euro-area countries such as Germany and Italy have even wider deficits. Yet it is right. Tony Blair's government is hiding behind its self-created golden rule, put in place soon after the Labour Party came to power in 1997. Public borrowing is supposed to be matched by surpluses over...