[Ignitionnet]

What killed Labour was how thin and precarious the tax base was, not their spending so much.

That did grow counter-cyclically though, and for sure a bunch of it wasn't efficient.

The big crime was, rather than rebalancing the economy, splurging the City cash. Labour were really bad for industry and their spending plans hugely dependent on the banking sector. So when that went belly up....

Certainly the accusations that they were spending out of control are unfair. Likewise anyone saying that Labour weren't disastrous for the economy is being somewhat disingenuous. Labour's economic plans were geared for electoral gain and the difficult decisions were avoided.

Alongside that there was a big streak of, oddly, corporatism. The gold was sold at rock-bottom prices to prop up the financial sector.

Slower and more sustainable growth, both economically and in spending, would've been preferable. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.