Death penalty

[JonathanM]

Yes, hence the deficit in the first place, they hired more people, than tax recites coming in. This caused a 149 billion pound deficit

We were doing pretty well until the GFC. It doesn't make sense to argue that the large budget deficit wasn't directly caused by the GFC.

 

[JonathanM]

Like pfi which still burdens the NHS

As I mentioned before, this has been a total disaster. But you have to consider why it happened. For eighteen years the Tories had let the public infrastructure decay. They had spent massive North Sea oil receipts and privatisation receipts to fund their obsession with tax cuts. Surely, it would have been better to spend some of that replacing our 19th century schools and hospitals? In so doing, they also managed to make any attempt to raise headline taxes politically impossible. So, the only option for Labour in 1997 was to expand the PFI scheme started by the Tories.

 

[carmanmemoranda]

As I mentioned before, this has been a total disaster. But you have to consider why it happened. For eighteen years the Tories had let the public infrastructure decay. They had spent massive North Sea oil receipts and privatisation receipts to fund their obsession with tax cuts. Surely, it would have been better to spend some of that replacing our 19th century schools and hospitals? In so doing, they also managed to make any attempt to raise headline taxes politically impossible. So, the only option for Labour in 1997 was to expand the PFI scheme started by the Tories.

Doesn't support the narrative though.

Pesky facts