More Balls

Why is it I have decided against Ed B again? Partly because of this "He wrote the speech in which Brown said that he was committed to "post-neoclassical endogenous growth theory" during his time as chancellor, leading to Michael Heseltine's famous retort about the phrase: "It's not Brown's. It's Balls.""
Partly because he is strategically but disloyally disassociating himself from Gordon, Partly because he has a reputation of being cliquey and with the Bully Boys running the country Lord knows we don't need any more cliques. Oh yes, and he handed the Lib Dem turncoats over to the Cons - yes we know now that the Cons were also not going to compromise but at least they made the effort to pretend they might!
But he does write a good letter:
Dear ,
VAT to 20%. Child benefit frozen. Disability benefits cut. Public services, jobs and pensions savaged. Can you believe this is happening?

As I feared in my email last week, the Tory-Liberal government has announced that they are going ahead with an unfair rise in VAT - in a Budget which hits the poorest hardest.

So, if you haven’t done so already, I am asking you to join our campaign to Stop the VAT Bombshell – and to join the thousands of Labour Party members who have already signed up to stop this unfair rise in VAT going ahead.

We didn’t expect anything different from the Tories - I warned in Tribune before the election that George Osborne would do this.

But - as I argued on Question Time last night - for the Lib Dems to support a rise in VAT is an unbelievable betrayal. It’s the same “Tory VAT bombshell” that Nick Clegg and Vince Cable campaigned against in the election campaign!

In 1993 the Tories planned to put VAT on people's gas and electricity bills. Labour’s campaign stopped them in their tracks. If we all come together we can stop nextJanuary’s 20% VAT bombshell as well - you can read my article in yesterday’s Daily Mirror and the Mirror’s comment.

So please do sign up to Stop the VAT Bombshell and:
we‘ll send you a campaign pack of materials to fight your own local campaign;
we will send you model letters, petitions and facts to put Lib Dem MPs, candidates and councillors on the spot – and Tories too;
we will send you details of how best to get your MP to sign the House of Commons motion opposing the VAT increase which one of my supporters has organised - you can read the motion here.

Next week I will also be launching my campaign to save free school meals. Do let me know if you’ve got any other ideas to step up the campaign on public service and benefit cuts – and we’ve got until January to stop what I think is the most unfair tax increase of all, especially for families, the unemployed and pensioners.

It would be great if you could forward this email to your family, friends and colleagues and ask them to sign up too.

I will never forget that my first responsibility as a Labour and Co-operative MP and shadow cabinet member is to fight against this unfairness. That’s why I am standing for the Labour leadership. You can read more about my campaign at www.edballs4labour.org

I am determined to show you over the next two months that I have the judgement, experience, determination and track record in fighting for social justice to lead our party. But my priority this weekend is to get your support to fight this deeply unfair Tory-Liberal budget.

Together we must continue the fight for fairness.

Best wishes,



Ed Balls

P.S. You can get involved in my campaigns on my website www.edballs4labour.org, including my campaign to save free school meals for half a million children. You can also read my ideas on how we rebuild our Party from the ground up.
My campaigning is financed by donations from well-wishers, and volunteers are helping in the campaign office and with our regional campaigns - so you can donate or sign up to help out too.
And to get updates from my campaign please text the word 'join' to 07797 800613


I might just text Ed, I might just...