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Yeah fair enough, maybe I misread (misheard?) the tone of the piece there. Of course it's valid to point out that this would be a sudden U-turn and that it's basically what Labour wanted too, but it just came across to me a bit like "this is a bad thing because you're U-turning". I thought a slightly more neutral reporting tone would have helped, but again, just my take.
it's worrying that the Tories are parking their tanks on Labour's lawn in this way
So this is interesting: it's been pointed out in German politics that usually when one party starts making concessions to the talking points of more right-wing movements, e.g. regarding immigration, this usually doesn't really work out very well as those right-wing movements (such as the AfD) are seen as 'owning' the issue to some extent. So trying to copy their stances tends to backfire and just end up validating them.
I honestly don't see that happening here with regards to increases in spending and Labour, but why is that? Isn't Labour the party always calling for more spending, better pay and working hours for NHS staff, etc. etc.?
SwissChap-
When the Labour party suggest reasonable increases in Public spending the right wing media dismiss them as reckless 'tax & spend'. When the Tories suggest returning Public spending to recent (non-inflation adjusted) levels that pertained before Tory cuts, the right wing media proclaim this as pragmatic investment.
mespilus
I watched that. I thought the tone overall was more how odd it was after years of austerity they are now proposing to spend as much as Labour were/are and what a U turn it is.
There was a bit of a "is this responsible" sort of tone but that's not surprising given Gideon Osborne's narrative of "Labour spent all the money" which was widely accepted by the public (despite being untrue), but that made the piece more balanced, not less.
Either way, while I welcome increased public spending it's worrying that the Tories are parking their tanks on Labour's lawn in this way. It also feels like Boris trying to buy everyone off to get a hard Brexit through to me.