The Times, Labour 1994-2008, Leader: The deep international crisis would have been difficult for any Government. For this one - with excessive borrowing already underway - the challenge is particularly severe. It has mortgaged the future on the ideas of the past
The Times,'Real' Labour regroups to fight the old battles, Rachel Sylvester: “£150,000 may seem a lot in Edinburgh but it isn't a lot in Reading," one senior Labour figure said. “I fear that Gordon has just given a huge Christmas gift to the Tories. We are, to quote Lyndon Johnson, in danger of losing the South for a generation."
The Telegraph, Labour lands Britain in a £1 trillion hole, Leader: Despite the best efforts of Alistair Darling to gild the lily - predicting a "shorter and shallower" recession as a result of his measures - the true enormity of the cataclysm that has engulfed us was finally laid bare.
The Telegraph, Why Gordon Brown the manic meddler had to take such a massive gamble, Boris Johnson: The Government may treat the public like laboratory rats, but they are not entirely idiotic. They can see that this respite is only temporary. They can see that the tax rises are round the corner, and even as they tiptoe towards the cheese, they can see Alistair Darling waiting with his cosh.
The Independent: A monumental debt that takes us back to the 70s, Hamish McRae: The Government is only raising about £7.50 in tax for every £10 it proposes to spend. That is back to the levels of the 1970s that led to us seeking a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The Sun, The Death of New Labour, Leader: The clue is in the tax changes. All the CUTS are temporary. All the RISES are permanent.
The Sun, Cheat Brown has bungled the bung, Fergus Shanahan: Gordon’s great “giveaway" amounts to no more than him acting like that loan shark on your doorstep or that drunk putting off the hangover.
The Financial Times, Say Goodbye to New Labour Again, Leader: The pain of the Brown boom will be felt well beyond the recession.
The Daily Mail, 'I make no bones about taxing the rich': Darling resolute but Tories say radical rates cuts would be more effective, Leader: Although the 800,000 people earning more than £100,000 will provide £3 billion of the £4 billion in extra income tax revenue, it was becoming ever clearer last night that average earners will be stung as well.
