An election that's about last decade as much as the next

摘要

The last 10 years have sometimes been referred to as 'the lost decade', thanks to the long tail of the recession which shredded the economy in 2009, permanently removed £80bn a year from the nation's GDP and instigated five years of austerity in the public finances. The question is - who were the losers and what is anyone doing to help them? It is this which lies at the heart of the election campaign and a seam which Labour has struck, albeit with the simplistic response of promising bags of cash at no cost to anyone earning under £80,000 a year.