Nothing wildly radical about John McDonnell's spending plans

Shadow chancellor's strategy of investing billions in infrastructure projects goes all the way back to John Maynard Keynes

A pivotal moment during the 2015 general election campaign came when Ed Miliband was asked by a member of the public on Question Time whether Labour had overspent when it was in power. To howls of derision, Miliband said: "No, I don't."

The exchange went to the heart of Labour's problem: a large number of voters thought the recession of 2008-09 was due to the Gordon Brown government spending and borrowing too much. The polls showed that George Osborne was better trusted than Ed Balls to manage the nation's finances.

Related: Labour promises 'iron discipline' to shore up fiscal credibility