If Labour wins a 1945-style landslide, it will have no excuse for playing it safe | Larry Elliott

Sticking to the Tories' nonsensical fiscal rules, as it says it will, would be a political and economic mistake

Labour knows what it is like to inherit an economic mess. It did so in 1974, when Britain was on the verge of a period of high inflation and rising unemployment. It did so in the even tougher circumstances of 1945, and it will do so again if it wins on 4 July.

Things are not as bleak as they were when the second world war ended, but coping with the twin shocks of the past five years - a pandemic and a European war - has been a struggle. Repairing the damage will be costly and time consuming.

Larry Elliott is the Guardian's economics editor