Boris Johnson is no socialist. But his big spending will make Labour's job harder | Tom Kibasi

Ballooning Tory spending in response to the pandemic does nothing to redistribute wealth, but it does buy voters

It has been said of Boris Johnson that he is now more Castro than Castro" and that the economy is now more socialist ... than at any point in British history". This is, of course, plainly not true. Socialism is normally understood as common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange - with power in the hands of workers and citizens, rather than shareholders - and the fundamental aim of a society of equals. The temporary expansion of state spending during a global pandemic is obviously not the same, and the current government is plainly relaxed about inequality.

Yet it is hard to overstate the scale of that expansion. Between March this year and next, the Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts an increase in government borrowing of 372bn. That's three times the annual budget for the entire NHS or about 15% of the entire UK pre-pandemic economy. So what are the wider implications of this expansion in state spending?

Related: Debt may be cheap, but the UK's poor productivity will cost us dear