Labour has learned that austerity is hard to avoid

It is becoming increasingly commonplace to hear complaints from the left that this Labour government is proving to be rather right wing.

But as someone who was part of Osborne’s Treasury team at the time, I am not sure they are so different.

The coalition government inherited a much larger deficit ( 9.9 per cent of GDP), most of which would not simply disappear with economic growth.

This government inherited far more fragile public services, with spending plans that looked undeliverable.

Trump looks likes constituting a fourth shock. It has left governments muddling through, repeatedly being forced into choosing the least worst option. Those on the left unsympathetic to the government’s predicament should face up to the harsh realities. And those on the left sympathetic to the government’s predicament might also acknowledge that other governments have been so constrained. As in 2010 , we live in austere times..