Other views: Lib Dem and Tory plans for the UK's economy

Proposals for the UK's ailing economy Vincent Cable Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman My starting point would be to secure Gordon Brown's main achievement: the independence of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee. It will be necessary to see off all kinds of arguments in the next few years to change (that is, increase) the inflation target or redraw the MPC's mandate to relegate inflation to a subordinate objective. There is more to be done to restore credibility to fiscal policy. The government's rules have been subject to repeated fiddling and will never be credible while it sets its own tests and marks them. They need to be reinforced by ensuring that the definition of the cycle and performance is assessed independently of government. The most important challenge relates to the 'credit crunch' and the falling... [read full story]