My comment on How can Labour say it didn't crash the economy
If I were Miliband my reply would be:
Yes we were in power but the public needs to understand that the if the Tories were in power then they would have mismanaged the economy just have they have now. They like to portray the cause as out of control spending, but this was spending they agreed to match. The real cause of the crisis was a poorly regulated financial sector, and everyone and their dog knows that the Tories would be softer on bankers, lighter on regulation, and the crash would have been far worse.
Now you can argue we didn't get enough for our money from the bailout, but the way the Tories dithered and doubted about the bailout could have caused a complete failure in the banking system. After the election we handed them a recovery, which they squandered on an ecomically illiterate policy of austerity. They damaged the economy and our standard of living so badly in those first few years they have only just got the back to the position they inherited. Now they proudly promise to repeat the disaster.
