Corbyn thinks changing attitudes mean we will back tax rises and borrowing, although the sums involve some sleight of hand
Labour’s manifesto has an old-fashioned feel about it. It has been many a year since one of the two main political parties has gone into an election on a platform that is unashamed about the virtues of tax and spend.
The document sketches out a picture of Britain in which the size of the state is bigger – apart from during the special circumstances of the financial crisis – than at any time since the 1980s. You would have to go back even further – to the early 1950s – to find a time when tax as a share of the economy will be as high as it would be under Labour’s plan for 2021-22.