In response to ConservativeHome's campaign for tighter public spending growth (in order to pay for reduced borrowing and/ or relief for under-pressure taxpayers and businesses) George Osborne and Philip Hammond have been saying that their proposed spending plans are tighter than those pursued by Margaret Thatcher. The TaxPayers' Alliance has been doing some number crunching and questions the Treasury team's maths:
"Public spending growth was lower than 2.1 per cent in every year of Thatcher's second parliament. In the first two years of her first parliament, spending growth was lower than 2.1 per cent, although the average in her first parliament was 2.3 per cent. Over the 18 years of Tory government, the average was 1.5 per cent. Note also that in the first three years of Brown as Chancellor, spending growth was lower than 2.1 per cent. Now, is it really correct to say that 2.1 per cent per annum spending growth is tighter than under Thatcher?"
It's not the first time that Mr Osborne hasn't 100% faithfully represented the Thatcher years. Dominic Lawson previously criticised the Shadow Chancellor for giving the false impression that lower taxation did not feature prominently in her 1979 manifesto.
