On Saturday, I spoke at the annual Fabian Society conference, which this year was entitled ‘The Economic Alternative'.

But if you came looking for an alternative view on the economy from the official opposition, you would have been sorely disappointed.

Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls was the keynote speaker, and used his appearance to set out Labour's economic vision for the future - which amounted to a sort of Tory-lite, keep-the-cuts policy package.

I put my thoughts on this into a letter to the Guardian, as below, which was published today. You can also read it online here:

Dear Sir,

In his interview with your paper on Saturday, Ed Balls effectively holds up a white flag and admits that Labour has given up any attempt to set out an alternative economic agenda (Beyond the hair shirt: Labour party can give Britain the tough love it needs, insists Balls, 14 January).

His capitulation before the Tory-led coalition's definition of economic credibility as meaning ever more fiscal austerity, and his jaw-dropping statement that "we are going to have to keep all these cuts" calls into question the very purpose of the Labour party.

Moreover, the choice he poses between higher public sector pay or growing unemployment conveniently ignores the fact that many public sector workers are on very low incomes, and falsely suggests that we can't afford to fund both. It is investment in decently paid jobs that generates income, and thus the tax revenues to pay for credit or borrowed money, not the other way round.

Instead of trying to outcompete the government in some kind of masochistic virility test to see who can threaten the greatest austerity, an opposition party worthy of the name would be making a far stronger case that austerity isn't working, and offering a genuine alternative.

A combination of more progressive taxation, a crack down on tax evasion and avoidance and, crucially, Green quantitative easing to deliver investment directly in the new jobs and infrastructure the UK urgently needs to make the transition to a more sustainable economy, would do far more to challenge the government than the Tory-lite policies set out by the shadow chancellor.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Lucas MP