Vince Cable nails Labour's "big mistake" in opposition

The University of York student newspaper York Vision has an interview with the city's famous son Vince Cable.

Asked for his reaction to Rachel Reeves's budget, Vince says:

"It was necessary to have a substantial increase in taxation because public services are in a very poor state. I think people have to get used to the idea that if they want good public services, they have to pay for them. That means taxation. So, yes, I agree with that.

"I think the big negative thing, which is not about the budget itself, but the preparations. I think the Labour Party made a bad mistake in opposition, not being honest about the need to raise taxation substantially. And they should have said to people that you’re going to have to pay more VAT, more income tax.

"But as a result of not doing that, what they’ve got into looks a bit sneaky, and they’ve got into bad taxes. This national insurance for employers looks like a victimless tax but it’s actually going to hit consumers, it’s going to hit workers indirectly. It’s not the best way to raise taxation."

Asked what the Liberal Democrats should do to become the official Opposition in Parliament, Vince stressed the importance of Europe, local government and climate change:

"I think they need to be a bit more explicit about Europe and the commitment to Europe. I would be much more outspoken in saying Britain needs to have higher taxes for better public services, and I think particularly areas like education.

"I think the Lib Dems should be ... pushing very hard to get more funding into local government rather than central government, because ... councils are closer to the public. At the moment, they’re disempowered, and many of them are bankrupt, so I think reforming local government  would be a high priority."

And on electoral reform, he had no time for the argument that the rise of Reform should make Lib Dems reconsider their support for it:

"We do need electoral reform. The fact that you get more people from Reform is neither here nor there. They exist as a force. We’ve seen with Trump, we’ve seen in Germany that populist parties are very, by definition, very popular. Just sweeping them under a carpet and pretending that they don’t exist is the worst kind of response."

When I was a student at York in an earlier life, there was only one newspaper on campus, Nous. Judging by its website, it is still going strong.