A full house of criticism for Ed Balls dire response to the Autumn Statement. He fluffed his first line and it was all downhill from there…
Ed Balls sounds a bit uncharacteristically floundery. #AS2012
— Gaby Hinsliff (@gabyhinsliff) December 5, 2012
Must be nightmarishly difficult to respond on these occasions and Balls is usually a v strong performer. But he's having a shocker today
— Iain Martin (@iainmartin1) December 5, 2012
Ed Balls hopeless. National debt is going to be higher at end of Parl. Of course it is. Deficit inherited from Lab £156bn a year.
— John Rentoul (@JohnRentoul) December 5, 2012
Ed Balls struggling to get heard…#AS2012
— Cathy Newman (@cathynewman) December 5, 2012
Osborne laughing in Balls' face as the shadow chancellor struggles. Not sure that's wise. #AS2012 #AutumnStatement
— Kiran Stacey (@kiranstacey) December 5, 2012
Balls repeatedly stumbling over still-falling deficit sounds like he cant actually believe it. Whole line of attack was re-rise of deficit
— Paul Mason (@paulmasonnews) December 5, 2012
Labour MPs remarkably quiet. Shadow Chancellor needs more support
— Tom McTague (@TomMcTague) December 5, 2012
Ed Balls is finding this tough going – House rowdiness is almost drowning him out, and he appears more shaken than usual.#autumnstatement
— anita anand (@tweeter_anita) December 5, 2012
Not Ed Balls finest performance so far.
— David Ottewell (@davidottewell) December 5, 2012
Balls is normally bravura on these occasions but this is very flat
— Tim Shipman (@ShippersUnbound) December 5, 2012
Andrew Neil: "Ed Balls taking 20mins to reply to George Osborne's 15 minute statement" … miaow
— Brendan Miller (@brenkjm) December 5, 2012
He had an open goal, all he had to do was keep it simple…
