Tories Admit Ed Balls Was Right

How many times have you heard Tories say "you can't spend your way out of recession" or "you can't decrease the debt by raising public spending"? A fair few times I would wager. But ahead of this Wednesday's autumn statement, there is a sign of a welcome change from Gideon's incompetent orthodoxy from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, of all places.

Announcing extra funding for Britain's flood defences after yet another wet November, it says:

£60 million of the funding will be targeted at areas where flood defences can unlock new opportunities for development and growth, helping our country compete and thrive in the global race. Investment will be focused on areas where it will have the greatest economic impact. A further £60 million will help speed up the delivery of up to 50 flood defence schemes already in train and prioritised by the Environment Agency.

In total, we estimate that this will support schemes which could improve flood protection for up to 60,000 homes and achieve up to £1 billion of economic benefits.

Did you see that? The government estimates that a £120m spend could generate up to one billion pounds worth of extra economic activity.

It's almost as if the Tories have swapped Gideon for Ed Balls.