Over the past few weeks of this election campaign, I've heard many television and radio interviews, and read many newspaper articles that have slated the parties for not giving details of how they will cut the spending defecit.
Well there is a simple reason for this, and it is not the fault of the Conservatives, or the Lib Dems, nor is it the fault of any of the smaller parties all running in this general election.
The reason why detailed spending cuts cannot be published by anyone other than Labour, who incidentally have also not released any details of what they will do, is because of Labour.
Prior to the budget which was held on March 24th, just weeks before the election was called, the Prime Minister should have ordered a comprehensive spending review. Governments do this prior to budgets so that they know exactly what each government department is spending, and what they are planning to spend.
Knowing that he had to call a general election, that would be a monumental battle for him to win, Gordon Brown put the brakes on the review. The review, would have been available to all parties and indeed the public and media to rip apart. The Prime Minister knew that if he did allow a review to take place, he would have given the others the ammunition that they would have needed to finish him for good.
Instead, he's hidden the numbers, not unlike the dealings of the failed investment banks hid their dealings during the early throws of the financial crisis only a few years ago. Based on this, he took a gamble that the other parties wouldn't have a clue about where cuts could be made, making them look weak on substance when it comes to economic matters. Instead, Brown would move forward on his now well worn script which portrays him as the saviour of economies around the world. Then once back in Downing Street, he could set about making the cuts needed, knowing that he had another five years for it all to blow over.
Shame Gordon, you've been found out.