Dave, Nick and the Big Lie

Cameron and Clegg: in it together

The favourite mantra of the Coalition government is that Labour left a ‘mess’ which they have got to clear up.  They say it all the time, especially to justify the savage cuts they are implementing.  It’s a very, very simple message – and it assumes that the public are simple-minded enough to believe it.

The truth is more complicated than that, but it isn’t difficult to understand.  It can be summed up in five points:

1. There was no political fuss about Britain’s deficit up to the time of the toxic debt crisis. This can only mean that it was universally considered that the deficit was at an acceptable and sustainable level relative to the performance of the economy at the time.
   
   2. The toxic debt crisis originated in the USA and the ensuing economic disaster was worldwide. No-one could possibly say the crisis was caused by the Labour government.
   
   3. Labour’s bank regulation policies were all supported by the Tories - in fact they would have regulated less, not more. The deficit would therefore still have happened if the Tories had been in power.  In fact, it would have been a lot worse.
   
   4. Labour’s handling of the crisis is universally acknowledged to have been inspired. They did the right things and saved the country, and possibly the world, from even worse disaster. These measures were opposed by the Tories.
   
   5. Labour’s policies in their last quarter in office meant the deficit was not as bad as expected, unemployment not as bad as expected and economic growth better than expected. It is only since the Coalition came to power that the economy has slowed again.
   
   

Hat-tip to Ronnie source here