edwin_m
Veteran Member
Austerity was peddled on the Thatcherite line that a country has to be run like a household, and if you're spending too much you need to cut back. This makes sense to a lot of people, but Osborne is clever enough to know that it's not like that if you're a country. Cutting back reduces economic activity which in turn reduces tax take so the deficit doesn't go away. Which is why I think he was being a cynical populist by adopting this policy to win the election when he knew, or ought to have known, that more borrowing, less cutting and selective tax increases would be the best way out of recession. Unfortunately for him it backfired by creating a lot of the unhappiness that was expressed in the form of Brexit - something he opposes as much as anyone.
As to the LibDems, I think they mitigated some of the worst effects of Tory policy (and they refused to agree the boundary changes which would have cemented the Tory majority in 2015 and changed subsequent events profoundly) but they couldn't really challenge something that was core to the Tory manifesto. With hindsight they could have done a lot more, such as stopping some of the pointless NHS reforms that weren't in the manifesto. But definitely the least bad of the available options now as far as I'm concerned.
As to the LibDems, I think they mitigated some of the worst effects of Tory policy (and they refused to agree the boundary changes which would have cemented the Tory majority in 2015 and changed subsequent events profoundly) but they couldn't really challenge something that was core to the Tory manifesto. With hindsight they could have done a lot more, such as stopping some of the pointless NHS reforms that weren't in the manifesto. But definitely the least bad of the available options now as far as I'm concerned.