Why we saw growth under a Labour government

Austerity was a policy adopted by many countries, but it was not an EU policy as you suggest, it was a choice made by the Conservative led coalition government, in particular David Cameron and George Osborne.

The only EU nations which must adopt similar fiscal rules are those nations which are part of the Eurozone.

The Labour leadership of Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling were not alone in calling for a delay to cuts, followed by a more gradual cutting of budgets, their approach was backed by Nick Clegg and Vince Cable.

The Labour Chancellor stated that "an immediate, deep cutting of public spending would more than likely cut-off growth" and that growth should be allowed to get fully established before austerity measures were implemented.

After the election, the Lib Dems changed their minds, and went for the Tory policy of immediate and deep cuts

Growth which had been established after the recession, and under the Labour government, was then cut-off, growth fell ... the forecast of Brown and Darling was proven to be 100% correct.

Every forecast, every prediction ever made by George Osborne never came to fruition, his budget estimates were all blown way off course. He said at the despatch box that "unless we embark upon his measures, we would find ourselves in the same situation as Greece, and that we would lose our AAA Credit Rating ... three years later we lost our Triple A Credit Rating.