Tory praise for Ireland

Conservatives praising anything would worry me - they are just out for the businessman and the rich as far as I can see.

"In a speech in Dublin, British Tory MP George Osborne was set to claim that the UK government and economy needs to be leaner and more efficient in the face of increasing international competition.
But the Conservative frontbencher said the chancellor has instead overseen a decline in productivity and an expansion of the bureaucratic public sector.
'Faced with the extraordinary rise of emerging economies like China, India, and Brazil, many European governments seem to have accepted that we will not be able to compete. In Britain we are in danger of following their lead,' he argued.
'Our chancellor's response to globalisation is to block much-needed reforms, and give us an ever rising tax burden, and an ever growing welfare state. But that path leads to decline and is wedded to the past.
'To stick to it today represents a failure of ambition. Instead we must prepare ourselves for the future, through education, benefit and tax reform, new infrastructure, more research, and renewed innovation.'
And he said that Ireland has set an example to follow.
'That is why companies like Google, Intel, Apple, and Oracle have all chosen to locate their European operations in Ireland not Britain,' said the shadow chancellor.
'Ireland stands as a shining example of the art of the possible in economic policy-making.
'With its vision of a highly-educated, innovative, open, dynamic, low-tax economy, and relentless focus on the long-term drivers of prosperity, Ireland's economic miracle has shown that it has the right answers to the challenges of the new global economy.
'The new global economy offers us great challenges, and also great opportunities. Ireland has shown the world that wise economic policy-making can produce outstanding results that surpass all expectations"