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Financial Times:
Labour's fiscal record was good until world recession

29 January 2015

Letter from Professor Richard Layard
Sir, John Hutton and Alan Milburn are quite right (''Defend Labour's economic record - the facts are on our side'', Comment, January 28): the fiscal record of the last Labour government was good. Until the world recession of 2008, Labour's fiscal deficit was lower in every year than the deficits of John Major's government. It was the world recession that caused the deficits of 2008 and 2009. In the coming election campaign Conservative candidates will refer daily to ''the deficit that Labour left behind''. Labour needs to respond with its own mantra: ''No, they were deficits caused by the world recession.''

The letter was published by The Financial Times on January 29, 2015
Link to article here

Related links
Richard Layard webpage
Wellbeing Programme webpage

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