It is always reassuring to be attacked by the Daily Telegraph, which rarely disappoints as a parody of itself. “Labour plans to make Britain even more idle” was yesterday’s editorial fume. “So much for Brexit - we might as well have stayed in” bellowed a reliably apoplectic columnist, on the same subject.
The modest provocation for this edition of outrage was Labour’s intention, as part of its employment law reforms, to give employees a right to not be pursued unreasonably by their employers outside working hours. This is likely to become an exacerbating factor in tribunal cases of unfair dismissal rather than a criminal offence. To a more rational audience, that may not sound particularly draconian or synonymous with promoting a national malaise of idleness.
It is true however that it is an idea borrowed from EU countries, like Belgium and Ireland, which per se must make it a bad thing for the Torygraph faithful. Let’s hope they have plenty more to become apoplectic about. Even they must find a little difficulty in pinning yesterday’s economic news on a Labour government which has been in office for six weeks.
Borrowing was £3 billion more last month alone than had been forecast by the Office of Budget Responsibility due to the level of government spending. This helpfully reinforced Rachel Reeves’ message that unfunded commitments made by the Tories on a grand scale are now having to be paid for. If the Office of Budget Responsibility got it wrong at the r.