Tom Gordon
Scottish Political Editor
GEORGE Osborne yesterday announced a surprise second budget, just four months after his last one, but against failed to spell out his plans for £12bn of welfare cuts.
The Chancellor said he would deliver a stability budget on July 8, rather than wait until next spring to turn Tory election promises into reality.
The move is part of a series of rapid manoeuvres by the new government as it tries to drive through controversial changes before its fragile parliamentary majority decays.
With a Commons lead of just 12 votes, David Cameron is also expected to bring forward his in-out referendum on the EU and new anti-trade union laws.
Osborne, whose last budget was on March 18, admitted two in a year was "unusual". Speaking outside 11 Downing Street, he said the new budget would continue to "deal with out debts, invest in our health service and reform welfare to make work pay.
"But there will also be a laser-like focus on making our economy more productive so we raise living standards across our country."
In a newspaper article, Osborne also said he would make the welfare system "fair to the people who pay for it", but did not detail his £12bn cuts programme.
Labour said Osborne needed to say was going to pay for his "uncosted promises".
The economy also dominated a debate by contenders for the UK Labour leadership.
Former cabinet ministers Yvette Cooper and Andy Burnham defended Labour's tax and spend record, but younger candidates from the 2010 intake argued the party overspent when last in office.
Speaking at the annual conference of the Progress think tank, shadow health minister Liz Kendall said: "There's absolutely nothing progressive about spending more on debt interest payments than on educating our children."
Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt said the last Labour government "spent too much" and failed to save enough to deal with the 2008 crash and the recession.
However Burnham and Cooper, both former chief secretaries to the Treasury, strongly defended Labour's spending record on public services.
Burnham, the shadow health secretary, said the last Labour government "ran more surpluses its first term than the Tories did in 18 years", while Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said: "We should never let anybody tell us that it was too many teachers, doctors or nurses that caused Lehman Brothers to crash."
Burnham, Cooper, Kendall and shadow international development Mary Creagh have all declared for the leadership, while Hunt will decide whether to stand next week.
Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna withdraw from the race on Friday citing uncomfortable "pressure" on his family and private life.
Announcing a run at the deputy leadership, shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint said Labour lost the election because "the public did not trust us on the economy".
MPs Ben Bradshaw, Tom Watson and Stella Creasy are also eyeing the deputy's job.
There was more post-election grief for Ukip yesterday, after its only MP said leader Nigel Farage "needs to take a break now".
Clacton MP Douglas Carswell also said Farage's pre-election comments about foreign HIV patients burdening the NHS were "ill-advised" and the party needed to strike a more "optimistic" tone instead of trading on anger.
Ukip has been in turmoil since the election, with Farage resigning as leader for failing to get elected in Thanet South, then 'un-resigning' 72 hours later, sparking arguments about his personality and the quality of his advisers among the party hierarchy.
Speaking ahead of the Commons returning tomorrow, SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson said his party's 56 MPs would be the de facto opposition.
"I believe that the SNP will form the real opposition to the Tories," he said.
"Labour have failed to develop a strong alternative to the Tory agenda in a range of areas - including austerity, the economy, the welfare state and Europe - the issues that look set to be at the forefront of business in the new House of Commons.
"The SNP, by contrast, have a powerful manifesto mandate to oppose austerity, propose investment in job-creation, speak out against cuts in benefits, and insist that the UK cannot leave the EU unless all four of its constituent parts agree."
Shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray ridiculed the idea of the SNP's "strong voice", telling the Nationalists they would deliver "absolutely nothing" from opposition.
"We [Scottish Labour] had 41 experienced, respected MPs on the opposition benches. We voted 1300 times. We won four votes. Make as much noise as you want, but you've got a majority Tory government, you're delivering nothing. Absolutely nothing."
The "EdStone", the 8ft 6in slab engraved, commandment-style, with key Labour election pledges, was yesterday rediscovered at a London warehouse.
Unveiled by Ed Miliband, the monolith was supposed to go up in Downing Street after a Labour win, but was widely ridiculed as gimmick, and disappeared after May 7.
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