Tory plan to outspend Labour turns party's principle on its head

The Damascene conversion to a spending splurge funded via borrowing may not wash with voters, let alone the IFS

By any standards, the UK's economic performance in the 2010s has been poor. Workers are still earning less in inflation-adjusted terms than they were when the financial crisis erupted in 2008, productivity growth has collapsed, business investment has been weak, the trading performance wretched.

Despite all that, Britain has had nine uninterrupted years of Conservative rule and, if the polls are right, is on course for another five. Has the state of the economy ceased to determine election results?