"...they're voting Tory so that the country isn't ruined by Corbyn, Abott and ODonell who appear happy to cause mayhem and probably bankruptcy just to appease their Momentum paymasters."
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Letter from 163 economists to the Financial Times, backing Labour's policies as vital to get the economy working again.
Signatories include David Blanchflower, who is a former member of the Bank of England's interest rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee. The letter is quite long so I have included only some parts of it. The Full letter is on the Link and well worth reading.
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Letter: 'As economists we believe the Labour party deserves to form the next UK government'
From David G Blanchflower and others
'The UK economy needs reform. For too long it has prioritised consumption over investment, short-term financial returns over long-term innovation, rising asset values over rising wages, and deficit reduction over the quality of public services.
The results are now plain. We have had 10 years of near zero productivity growth. Corporate investment has stagnated. Average earnings are still lower than in 2008. A gulf has arisen between London and the South East and the rest of the country. And public services are under intolerable strain — which the economic costs of a hard Brexit would only make worse. We now moreover face the urgent imperative of acting on the climate and environmental crisis.
Given private sector reluctance, what the UK economy needs is a serious injection of public investment, which can in turn leverage private finance attracted by the expectation of higher demand. Such investment needs to be directed into the large-scale and rapid decarbonisation of energy, transport, housing, industry and farming; the support of innovation- and export-oriented businesses; and public services. It is clear that this will require an active and green industrial strategy, aimed at improving productivity and spreading investment across the country....
..... As economists, and people who work in various fields of economic policy, we have looked closely at the economic prospectuses of the political parties. It seems clear to us that the Labour party has not only understood the deep problems we face, but has devised serious proposals for dealing with them. We believe it deserves to form the next government.'
David G Blanchflower
Bruce V Rauner Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College; Professor of Economics. University of Stirling; former member, Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee
Plus 162 other signatures from economists.
www.ft.com/content/d6f56834-0f78-11ea-a225-db2f231cfeae