No party has won five elections in a row, and Tories won’t be the first | Larry Elliott

The economy is growing again and inflation is only just above government's 2% target, but it is all too little, too late

Winning five elections in a row is something no party has managed in modern times, and there are reasons for that.

Voters tire of the ruling party and want something new and fresh. Even more importantly, being in power for a long time increases the chances of bad stuff happening that tarnishes the government's reputation. In the last 50 years, there has been a recession or economic crisis every 10 years or so on average: the mid 1970s, the early 80s, the early 90s, the late 2000s and the early 2020s.