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Government Capital Expenditure

There is always an argument for considering existing infrastructure and not demolishing it if it would be more worth while to keep it. That is a truism and I will not disagree with it. It might be worth highlighting the evolution, to put it kindly, of the Liberal Democrats' policy. It is now their policy that the country needs more spending and that that is the way to get out of the recession. Last May, the leader of the Liberal Democrats stated that they would"““focus all our attention on cutting taxes””" and that"““We must get away from the Labour notion that if the Government is spending more it must be doing better.””" In his September 2008 party conference speech, the hon. Member for Twickenham, said that there was now"““a mood of austerity””" and"““an intolerance of…binge spending by government””." As recently as 10 November 2008, in another Opposition day debate on the economy, the Liberal Democrat motion set out a number of measures that the country required, but nowhere within it was there a proposal for a large, unfunded fiscal stimulus to be spent on public works.