So far the Labour leadership contest has been depressingly far too much about personalities and far too little about the fundamental issues the country now faces and how a potential new leader would handle them. That narrative must start with the economy since that is the central issue that decided the election.
Too many voters were left fearful of entrusting the nation’s finances to Labour which an incessant Tory barrage, never challenged or refuted, told them had caused the economic collapse in the first place, as though the bankers and the international recession had nothing to do with it. The truth is that the Blair-Brown governments in their 11 years 1997-2007 never ran a budget deficit higher than 3.3% of GDP (roughly the same level as Germany’s) whilst the Thatcher-Major governments ran up deficits larger than this in 10 out of their 18 years. Setting the record straight, and getting it understood, is key to enabling the rest of the narrative to be listened to.
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