LABOUR’S Shadow Chancellor has been accused of treating voters with “contempt” after he described the notorious “there’s no money left” note as a joke.
Ed Balls laughed off the letter, written by former Labour Treasury Minister Liam Byrne, calling it a “piece of humour” and a “jokey note” – prompting David Cameron to brand his comments “appalling”.
Critics warned Labour’s man in charge of the purse strings still doesn’t understand the severity of the economic collapse – as Ed Balls himself admitted that Labour backers are still “thinking hard” about whether the party should be put in charge of the finances again.
And even Balls’s own colleague Shadow Schools Minister Kevin Brennan refused to back him, in a second embarrassment for the senior Labour figure.
Asked about the note, Mr Balls said: “Liam Byrne’s note was a jokey note, of course the money hadn’t run out, but there was a large deficit, and we had to get it down, and we needed to get it down in a fair way.”
He appeared to blame Lib Dem David Laws for making the note public – fuelling claims that Labour was joking behind the scenes about the size of the problem before the last election.
He added: “David Laws, his [Liam Byrne’s] successor, decided to make what was supposed to be a private note, public. It was supposed to be a piece of humour.”
Mr Byrne left the note in a desk in his government office after Labour lost the 2010 election.
It reads: “Dear Chief Secretary, I’m afraid there is no money. With kind regards – and good luck! Liam.”
Asked whether the note made him laugh, Labour shadow minister Mr Brennan refused to back Balls and said: “It certainly did not. No, it didn’t.”
At the launch of the Conservative Scottish manifesto David Cameron said: “Ed Balls saying this is some kind of a joke, I think is frankly the most appalling thing I have heard in this election campaign so far.
“I’m not surprised, he was Ed Miliband’s third choice to be his Shadow Chancellor. Frankly, he is the country’s last choice to be put in charge of this nation’s finances.”
And Tory Financial Secretary David Gauke added: “The fact that Ed Balls thinks the debt they left the country was a ‘joke’ goes to show the contempt they hold the public in.
“It is clear Labour has not learnt the lessons of the past and would do the same all over again – more taxes, more borrowing and more debt.”