I do not think Labour has a problem talking frankly about public expenditure. We all know the borrowing to stave off extreme recession and rescue the banks will have to be paid back. I believe that our government measures means that tax revenues will be restored more quickly than if we had slashed the economy as the Conservatives seem to suggest should have been done. The skill will be in paying back the national debt at rates that do not then dent the recovering economy. Capital spending undertaken earlier than planned as part of the strategy clearly will mean that less is to follow. The arguments about figures is essentially a Conservative smokescreen. At the back of it all is their philosophy of a small ie. cheap state and that means less central spending on schools, health, welfare, transport, environment - you name it - they will not want to fund it! If elected, under cover of paying back the debt quickly, they would be making the small state they seek. It does not bear thinking about and I have no evidence that the British people, even many Conservative voters, really want it.
"