There can be few more extraordinary sights than politicians indulging in a fit of tightfistedness ahead of an election. Normally party leaders compete to bribe voters with their own money. But the British party-conference season, the last before polls expected to take place in May or June, was dominated by a series of pledges to cut government spending. The public has not driven this shift in tone. An Ipsos mori poll in September found that only a quarter of Britons thought spending cuts were necessary. In America, where "tea party" anti-tax demonstrators have captured media attention, only 3% of respondents to a cbs News poll this month thought the deficit was the most important issue facing the country.
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