It's The Economy, Stupid: Economics for Voters

by Vicky Pryce

Osborne/Merkel austerity did enormous damage last time; an unyielding commitment to even sharper austerity poses a new and enormous threat. As David Blanchflower, respected economist and former member of the Bank of Engand’s Monetary Policy Committee notes, Many of us tried to explain that to George before he embarked on his reckless austerity path that produced the third worst recovery in 650 years, behind only the Black Death and the South Sea Bubble. The economy was growing at escape velocity when he inherited it in May 2010 but then the economy flat-lined for three whole years until picking up in 2013. GDP per head remains well below its peak level at the start of 2008. Most of the growth we have seen has come from a rise in the 16+ population, which is up 2.5 million (5 per cent) since January 2008 and 1.5 million since May 2010 (3 per cent), mostly through immigration.20 Any mitigation in Osborne’s poor economic record has mainly been through the failure of Conservative policy on the deficit and immigration, but a common definition of insanity (or should that be stupidity?) is doing the same thing again and expecting a different result.