Can Labour’s ‘no money’ note still work magic for the Tories?

It’s back! The scrap of paper left in 2010 by Labour’s outgoing chief secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne for his successor, that half-jokily, semi-sympathetically stated ‘I’m afraid there is no money’ is once more in the news.

When the recipient of the note, Liberal Democrat David Laws, made its contents public it was widely taken to confirm the incoming coalition government’s claim that Labour had irresponsibly left the country’s finances in a mess. It was concrete, and apparently irrefutable, evidence of the need for the swingeing austerity later imposed by Chancellor George Osborne. The note also helped Osborne deflect responsibility for austerity onto Labour.

It worked. By the time of the 2015 election more voters blamed the opposition for spending cuts than the government itself. Just in case they needed reminding, during that campaign prime minister David Cameron flourished a copy of Byrne’s note at meetings to dramatize his claim that Labour could not be trusted to manage the economy.