Does supporting labour come with a peg for the nose?

John Major Government
---------------------
93 - 94 ... 6.6%
94 - 95 ... 5.3%
95 - 96 ... 4.3%
96 - 97 ... 3.0%

Tony Blair Government
---------------------
97 - 98 ... 0.9%
98 - 99 ... Budget Surplus
99 - 00 ... Budget Surplus
00 - 01 ... Budget Surplus
01 - 02 ... 0.5%
02 - 03 ... 2.8%
03 - 04 ... 3.3%
04 - 05 ... 3.7%
05 - 06 ... 3.1%
06 - 07 ... 2.7%
07 - 08 ... 2.9%

Figures are Public Debt as a percentage of GDP, otherwise known as The Real Measure

Forgetful, early 90's because of Europhile extremists like John Major, we were in the ERM.

John Major took Norman Lamont into a room full of Europhile extremists and ordered him to spend, to shore up the pound and keep us in.

Had Labour won in 1992 they were lead by Neil Kinnock another extremist Europhile, the same thing would have happened.

As a result we ended up in a short recession, the economy recovered and the deficit started falling.

Gordon Brown adopted Ken Clarke's budget in 1997 and for his first term ran a surplus. If he'd done that for term two and term three there would possibly have been a term four.

But the man is a spendaholic who put the national finances on the never never.

Until Labour learn, they will keep making the same mistakes.

I remember John Majors pet project well. Nearly ruined me. But the reason for the problem was not a desire to keep us in but an overvaluation of the pound and a refusal of Major to admit he got it wrong until far too late. 
What Neil Kinnock would have done is just dreaming to make Majors catastrophe sound better. 

And regardless of what you accuse Labour of what about the Tories austerity? Where has that got us. Where was the money saved by that austerity. When Covid hit our debts were as bad as ever. 

You are forgetting that austerity meant everything was falling to pieces. Not only that but austerity did nothing to reduce public debt and is not responsible for a positive economy. 
Countries that did not introduce austerity recovered faster. 

Well of course economists disagree as much as politicians disagree about the best methods of putting right a deficit, or excessive deficit.

My own opinion fits with that of Nobel winning economist Paul Krugman .... that the best way of eradicating deficit is GROWTH, for the simple reason that "The True Measure of Debt and Deficit is as a Percentage of GDP"

Therefore, the more your GDP grows - the deficit as a percentage of GDP automatically shrinks

Everything we have seen and witnessed since 2010 seems to prove Paul Krugman correct, slashing public spending HAS cut off growth, UK growth over the last 13 years can only be described as pathetic, slashing public spending has hampered both recovery and eradicating the deficit.