Howard launches attack on Labour's 'ludicrous' targets

Michael Howard, the shadow Chancellor, accused Gordon Brown yesterday of living in a parallel universe and ridiculed Labour's "ludicrous" targets for reforming public services.

He said Mr Brown, the Chancellor, was guilty of drawing up vague and ill-defined targets that failed to address the real problems of schools and hospitals.

Mr Brown retaliated by claiming the Conservatives were secretly planning a 20 per cent cut in spending on the NHS and other public services.

Opening an opposition debate on the state of the economy, the shadow Chancellor criticised the Government's public service agreements (PSAs), which set targets for Whitehall departments. He said: "In [one] universe the PSAs are a great success, a shining beacon of reform for the rest of the world to admire.

"But in the world which the rest of the country inhabits, the Chancellor's ludicrous targets are the objects of scorn.

"People now know about the stifling of local initiative, the diverting of time and energy away from frontline services, the redefinition of trolleys as 'beds on wheels' so the Chancellor's targets can be met."

Mr Howard also criticised Labour's record on the economy, and mocked the relationship between Mr Brown and Tony Blair. Mr Howard said the public's love affair with New Labour was over, adding: "[This debate] falls at a time when the unblinking loyalty of Labour benches is reaching breaking point. And it falls at a time when the sham marriage of the Chancellor and the Prime Minister is falling apart."

Mr Brown defended the Government's record, insisting ministers had improved the performance of schools and hospitals since coming to power. He repeatedly challenged Howard Flight, the shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, to rule out cuts to the health service in the Tories' public spending review.

Mr Brown said the Flight review would be a disaster for the British people. "He [Flight] has identified the potential for savings. He has not denied that the NHS is part of the investigation," he said.

Mr Brown also hit back at Mr Howard's comments on the economy, pointing out that Britain had the lowest inflation for 40 years.

"We [also] have the lowest interest rates for 48 years, lower unemployment than America, Japan and the rest of Europe for the first time since 1945," he added. "Today's unemployment figures show the numbers claiming unemployment benefit have fallen by 3,500 in a month."

Matthew Taylor, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokes-man, said the Chancellor's optimism was "increasingly delusional".

He told Mr Brown: "You're in denial about the state of the economy. The concern is that a Chancellor who will not admit the relative problems of the UK economy is not a Chancellor who will ever come forward with policies to correct them."

Mr Brown had claimed Britain was a "relative beacon of success in a world economy clouded with difficulties", he said, adding: "But the truth is it isn't simply the world that is at fault."