Labour learnt nothing from its decade-long spending spree that left the country in penury?

Six months after becoming Labour leader and four months after saying that “in terms of policy, we start with a blank page”, Ed Miliband has finally started to fill the void. His joint press conference yesterday with Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, was billed as a pre-Budget economic policy statement. It was nothing of the sort. About the crippling deficit Labour left behind, there was barely a word. Instead, we were treated to another round of banker-bashing populism combined with a promise to spend large amounts of money. Has Labour learnt nothing from its decade-long spending spree that left the country in penury?
Mr Miliband claimed that another levy on bankers’ bonuses would raise £2  billion to fund house building, youth employment and the regional growth fund, creating 110,000 new jobs, a figure that seems to have been plucked from the air. The plan conveniently ignores the fact that his predecessor Gordon Brown said the “one-off” levy on bankers’ bonuses he introduced in 2009 could not be repeated because the banks would restructure their remuneration packages to avoid a second hit. And even if it did produce the £2 billion claimed by Mr Miliband, that would still be less overall than the Coalition’s own permanent bank levy generates.
But then the feasibility of the proposal is not relevant – for Labour is not currently in the business of credible economics. Look at the stern injunction Messrs Miliband and Balls issued to the shadow cabinet last month, insisting that all policy statements with financial implications be cleared with them. Since then, Labour has – according to detailed new Tory costings – made £12 billion of unfunded spending commitments. Its addiction to spending is as powerful as ever.