What are we to make the split between Danny Alexander and his predecessor as deputy Chancellor, David Laws, over the size of the state? Laws says today it should be 35 per cent of economic output, which is an excellent ambition. In an interview with BBC1’s Sunday Politics today, Danny says 40 per cent. A split? When asked, Alexander said: ‘I think around 40 per cent is the right sort of range to be looking at. It’s only in the last four or five years that we’ve seen the share of the state taken up by spending rising to nearly 50 per cent, as it did in Gordon Brown’s years.”
Well, in this case Danny is sticking to the Treasury’s forecast. By its (understated) figures, state spending is 46% of GDP now and will be 40.5% in 2015-16 – after which point the LibDems propose to stop the cuts.
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