Fiscal Responsibility Bill

There is another, slightly more obvious difference between now and 1945. Then, we had run up a spectacular debt that changed Britain's place in the world, in many ways for the worse. It left us vulnerable and led to years of rationing and hardship for households right across the country, but we had something pretty spectacular to show for that greater debt—we had defended ourselves against an unprecedented threat to our freedom and independence. Sixty-five years later, it is somewhat harder to work out what the current Prime Minister's monumental achievement from our rising debt is. Instead, our Prime Minister today stands metaphorically on the observation deck of the new Burj Khalifa skyscraper. Lifted high on a mountain of debt and hubris, he surveys a scene of economic depression and endless desert.