DAILY EXPRESS: GORDON BROWN has resorted to selling off billions of pounds worth of public assets in a desperate bid to raise cash.
The Prime Minister today unveiled a £16 billion programme of asset sales as part of a deficit reduction plan to bring down the massive state debt built up during the recession.
Some £3 billion of assets will be sold off over the next two years - including the Tote, the Dartford crossing, the Channel Tunnel rail link and the Student Loan book - in a move that smacks of Margaret Thatcher's privatisation programme branded by Harold Macmillan as "selling the family silver".
Most of the funds will be gathered by encouraging local authorities to exchange assets for cash.
Mr Brown said Britain was “only halfway there” in overcoming the recession, and warned that cutting back spending too soon risked repeating the mistakes of the 1930s and thrusting the country into depression. Now Brown Sells Off the Family Silver to Raise Cash >>> Emily Garnham | Monday, October 12, 2009
