Cable attacks Labour on Iraq and financial incompetence

LIBERAL Democrat economics guru Vince Cable today laid into Labour, accusing the party of selling its soul over Iraq and losing its reputation for competence in the financial crisis.

In a speech to the Scottish Liberal Democrat spring conference in Perth, he was also expected to make an outspoken attack on the banks for "hoarding" their cash and call for closer co-operation between Gordon Brown and Alex Salmond.

The Lib Dem Treasury spokesman, himself once a Labour councillor in Glasgow, was due to tell delegates: "It's clear that Labour is now in desperate difficulty.

"It some time ago abandoned its soul over Iraq; its one remaining claim to support was economic competence – but this has now been blown apart by the current crisis."

And he was expected to repeat the call he made when he arrived at the conference yesterday for Westminster and Holyrood governments to work together on the economy.

He said: "In the face of recession, we have seen a failure to act effectively from the Governments on both sides of the Border. Labour's VAT cut has proved expensive and ineffective, wasting money that could be better spent on green infrastructure investment to kick-start economic recovery across the UK.

"Alex Salmond's focus on separation and a referendum is an unhelpful distraction at a time when every level of government in Scotland and the UK should be committed to supporting the people who are struggling the most in the face of economic hardship.

"Brown and Salmond have been too focused on picking fights with each other and grabbing photo ops in the USA. It is time they worked together to get the people of Scotland and the whole UK through this recession."

At a question-and-answer session with Mr Cable, Edinburgh's Lord Provost, the Rev George Grubb, recalled visiting an elderly member of his congregation 20 years ago after she had suffered an attempted burglary.

"I discovered she had half a million pounds under her bed because her late husband Jimmy didn't trust banks."

And he asked: "Has the burglar been replaced by the bankers?" Mr Cable agreed they probably had, but said people's savings were now completely safe in the banking system.

"That's not because bankers are prudent – because they have been exposed as the opposite – but because the banks are now effectively nationalised."

• The conference voted to back Scottish Government proposals to ban cigarette vending machines in a bid to combat under-age smoking. Kevin Lang, candidate for Edinburgh North & Leith at the next Westminster election, persuaded delegates to reject a softer option, proposed by the party's policy committee, which would have required proof of age for access to vending machines.

He said: "It's our duty to do whatever we can to prevent children from buying cigarettes."