Not worth the paper it’s written on

WHEN the facts change, I change my mind” — this was the brazen acknowledgement from Pat Rabbitte, the communications minister, of how loose politicians can be with their beliefs and promises to fit into the political mould of the day.

It appears that the Labour Party, more than any other, has taken quite easily to the art of making big pledges when they are demanded from the public, only to renege on them as soon as they learn that they are too hard to keep.

Asked about the list of broken promises by his party — which just got longer after last week’s budget, Rabbitte confessed, without hesitation, that: “At this stage of the lifetime of the Government, clearly we have to find money somewhere and clearly some of them are a breach of the promises.”