Can someone tell me when the deficit reached £192 billion? Thought not.
When the coalition came to power the deficit was £158 billion. It’s now around £98 billion. Now by any normal person’s maths that equates to cutting the deficit by just over one third, not a half. No normal person would use ‘as a % of GDP’ as the definition, and indeed those words don’t appear on this new election poster released by the Conservatives today. Having said that, there are plenty of economists who do indeed use thar definition as THIS Google search prooves. The trouble for the Tories is that they haven’t been consistent in its use. When they said the deficit had been cut by a third they meant in absolute terms. Now they are using it as a per centage of GDP. Anyone can see why they’re doing it, but to use it like this in a political poster is at best a piece of spin and at worst it’s trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes.
UPDATE: Fraser Nelson explains this in more detail HERE
