All the discussion in the press room ahead of Ed Balls’s speech to Labour conference was over what surprises he would spring. Last year he memorably used his address to threaten to withdraw support from HS2. For a pre-election conference, the two announcements briefed last night – a 5 per cent cut in ministers’ pay followed by a freeze, and a 1 per cent cap on child benefit increases for the first two years of a Labour government – seemed rather modest.
But as Balls reached his Brown-esque peroration, it became clear that there was no rabbit lurking in the shadow chancellor’s hat. The speech largely consisted of a series of previously announced crowd-pleasing promises – the repeal of the NHS act, no new free schools in areas with surplus places, the abolition of the bedroom tax, scrapping PCCs, and the restoration of the 50p tax rate – and a reaffirmation of Labour’s commitment to fiscal discipline.
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