In a way, I do want May to win, and the comment below is why. I think we are headed into an extremely dark period, economically and socially, and for her to hand over to a different party precisely at this stage would be to saddle them with the blame when the shit hits the fan. Inflation for essential items such as food is already up, and house prices starting to fall. Brexit may well tank the economy and whoever is in power is likely to carry the can - especially the Conservatives, given they held the referendum that kicked it all off. Given it was called solely to sort out an on-going squabble in the Tory party, rather than for any principle, that actually seems fair. If Labour win, the coming disaster will eagerly be laid at their door, even though they've had no part in creating it. Realistically, though, I think a hung Parliament is probably best. Apart from anything else they'll be more likely to put any deal to a second referendum, which gives us a chance to back out when the chips are down.
My worry is labour are talking about putting money into everything, which is good to think, but in reality the money isn't there to go on a spending spree. I'm scared they will do what they did last time and spend spend spend and trap people on benefits again with no way out and screw the NHS again with all their funding of mangers and pen pushers. Labour scare me a lot.
I absolutely appreciate why you think that, given it;s been repeated so often, but if you look at the data, then it isn't actually true. At the time the financial crisis actually hit, Labour was borrowing less than John Major's administration (and he left power at a time of economic growth) the deficit (as opposed to national debt - not the same, but below certain levels isn't an issue, as manageable) was as close to zero as dammit. The recession hit 38 countries globally, including all the G7 nations, so I don't think that can be laid at Labour's door either. This article is from last month, by the way - it sets out the current governments fiscal failures despite being out of recession.
The comments on the NHS are not accurate, either. We were assessed, in 2010, as having the most efficient healthcare system from the G7 nations. Less bureaucracy and better use of funding than any other.
I am not a fan of Gordon Brown's style of government at all, but he handled the economic crisis pretty faultlessly. He supported the housing market via increased mortgage interest support for those who lost their jobs and low interest rates for all, avoiding total crash; he supported the banking system, avoiding economic collapse; and he worked with the Bank of England to support the economy more generally via quantatitive easing, and those very low interest rates. All of those steps meant we came through the period relatively intact as an economy. It was, again, a global collapse. It wasn't caused by government spending, which was wholly affordable, as the figures show, before the collapse, and necessary afterwards to stop the economy grinding to a halt.
National borrowing isn't the same as household. It's a lot more complex. Some spending grows the economy, so while you shouldn't be in deficit in economic boom, it's SOP in economic bust - Major was three times during his administration, for just that reason.
The reality is that Labour did provably better until a global crisis hit: less debt, stronger economy, and a lot of support for the income and services for the average person - and it was done at pretty much zero deficit in the good times, too, which the Conservatives simply have not managed. I do have to say though, I admire them for managing to persuade people that the massively better lifestyle they enjoyed under Labour is the reason for their economic pain now. It just is not true, and it's a shame it goes so unchallenged. I can only imagine that the Labour party felt they were on a losing wicket if referring back to the global financial crisis, because it was such a terrifying time, and people associate it so strongly with Labour now.
The national debt is currently higher than it ever was under Labour and the deficit isn't remotely down to where it was prior to the crash, either. This after years of austerity, and cuts to basic services. I can see no way whatsoever that that can be honestly presented as fiscal competence by the Conservatives. They've been good at assisting the very wealthy, definitely. But everyone else is worse off on just about any measure you care to name: provision of core services such as health and education and libraries and leisure, wages which for the low-paid have shrunk (almost uniquely in the EU and the G7) and unavoidable expenses have grown. Inflation on food is climbing, and as we Brexit, inflation will apply to pretty much everything. The housing market has been artificially inflated and distorted into another bubble via the Help to Buy schemes, which in turn has pushed up rents to crazy levels. That affects all of us because everyone has to pay to live somewhere... unless they are in a position to own outright, of course. And when prices fall, so will confidence, and a lot of people will be in negative equity. Brown supported homeowners through that with generous mortgage interest support payments - that's been removed. And we've already had 3 months of falls now. Finally: if we repatriate lots of young, tax-paying, goods-consuming migrant workers - supported by their nation of origin through their expensive educational years - then prices will fall further and the tax take plus economy is likely to fall, all the while while we repatriate all the elderly people who've retired to the southern EU, their medical and care needs are our responsibility instead of the host nation. That's going to be a problem. No wonder May wanted a dementia tax introduced - it's not going to come cheap.
Having said all of the above: PPI was an absolute fucker. If you want to slam New Labour for that, then I'm in. But it's a fairly minor point, when set against the above charge sheet.