George Osborne got away with his Big Lie. Brace yourselves for the real cuts
by William Keegan from on (#B7M1)
An austerity-led attack on public spending and an obsession with 'rules' will not deliver a balanced economy
The inquest on Labour's electoral defeat will run and run, and the recriminations will no doubt persist throughout the party's inordinately long timetable for selecting a new leader. But there is a limit to which candidates should surrender to the Big Lie that George Osborne, more than anyone else, has managed to get away with.
Take a report in the Times's recent "investigation" into Labour's "disastrous campaign". We are told that "as early as 2010, Labour's pollsters sent a memo saying the party should argue 'the deficit is the number one challenge facing the country' and back 'tough spending cuts'."
The truth is that the deficit was not the problem: it was the solution
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