Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris
It doesn't put any slant on anything. These figures, and the reason for them, are well known.
The national debt has gone up because there is a structural deficit - each year, we spend more than we raise in tax. There is a structural deficit because Labour allowed welfare and other spending to spiral and because in 2008 they then had to borrow a shedload of cash to bail out the banks. Because we have to service the debt, in order to shrink the deficit the Tory government since 2010 has been reducing public spending (the austerity Lefties like to bleat about). Only once the structural deficit has been eliminated can the national debt start to fall.
If there is a Tory government after June 8 this year, the deficit will shrink and disappear, and the national debt will start to be paid down.
If there is a Labour government after June 8, the deficit and the debt will go up, just as it would have done if Labour had won in 2015.
The choice really is that simple.
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Well you can also attempt to stimulate the economy in the hope the debt ratio to GDP lowers and the debt becomes less daunting and even inflates away. Maybe a package of infrastructure spending and investment will be a part of the Tory platform this time. Austerity has ostensibly being happening for 7 years and seems to have had more success in causing resentment and unrest than achieving the self-imposed goals the Tories had. I think they'll be storing up problems if they come unto a decade of it with no end in sight.