You can see the annual deficit figures in the Treasury pocket databank www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/pdb.pdf

Look at the table on the bottom half of p14. The key columns to note are the second (net borrowing) and fourth (net public sector debt) as a percentage of GDP. The net borrowing column is actually given as net surplus, so deficits have a minus sign.

As you will see the figures in John Major's government were:
1991/92 -2.9%
1992/93 -6.4%
1993/94 -7.7%
1994/95 -6.5%
1995/96 -5.2%
1996/97 -3.7%

In Tony Blair's government:
1997/98 -1.9%
1998/99 +0.1%
1999/00 +1.3%
2000/01 +3.9%
2001/02 +0.7%
2002/03 -1.8%
2003/04 -3.0%
2004/05 -3.1%
2005/06 -3.3%
2006/07 -2.4%

In Gordon Brown's government:
2007/08 -2.5%
2008/09 -4.9%
2009/10 -10.9%

In David Cameron's government:
2010/11 -9.9%
2011/12 -8.1%

The spike in deficit is driven by what happened between 2008 and 2010, ie the financial crisis. The deficits being run under the last Conservative government were much higher than what was being run by the Labour government up to the crisis, the deficit going into the financial crisis in 2008 was 2.5% of GDP compared to a deficit of 3.7% that they had inherited in 1997. For 7 of the 13 years Labour were in office they ran either surpluses or smaller deficits than at any time during John Major's government.

The idea that is pushed by the Tories that "Labour spent too much leading up to the crisis" just does not add up. Their spending levels were much more sustainable than the spending levels of the last Conservative government. It is true that Labour spent much more on public services, because the Conservatives high deficit levels were not because of high spending on public services but because unemployment was so high then, so they had fewer people contributing tax and more people claiming benefits. The Conservatives were paying for a high bill of social failure. When Labour came in and unemployment fell (despite bringing in the minimum wage) the public finances got much better.

The same would happen if we returned to a growing economy now and got back on top of unemployment. The deficit melts away when you approach full employment. When you have high unemployment you will always have a deficit no matter how much 'austerity' you have, we had 17 years of Tory austerity and cuts and we were still running high deficits in their final years in office!

One more point of interest, George Osborne's Fiscal Mandate is that by 2015 the "current budget" should be in balance. The current budget is the left hand column in that table. This is where you disregard anything classed as "investment spending", eg when the government builds a hospital that counts as investment spend, when it pays doctors and nurses that counts as current spend. The Office for Budget Responsibility are going to release figures soon that are expected to say they forecast he will miss that target. However we were pretty much on that target in 2007/08, the current budget was in deficit of just 0.7% of GDP, rising to 7.2% by 2010 due to the financial crisis. So again this idea that we were spending unsustainably leading up to the financial crisis does not add up, Osborne would love to have a current budget deficit of 0.7% by 2015.

You can see the annual deficit figures in the Treasury pocket databank www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/pdb.pdf

Look at the table on the bottom half of p14. The key columns to note are the second (net borrowing) and fourth (net public sector debt) as a percentage of GDP. The net borrowing column is actually given as net surplus, so deficits have a minus sign.

As you will see the figures in John Major's government were:
1991/92 -2.9%
1992/93 -6.4%
1993/94 -7.7%
1994/95 -6.5%
1995/96 -5.2%
1996/97 -3.7%

In Tony Blair's government:
1997/98 -1.9%
1998/99 +0.1%
1999/00 +1.3%
2000/01 +3.9%
2001/02 +0.7%
2002/03 -1.8%
2003/04 -3.0%
2004/05 -3.1%
2005/06 -3.3%
2006/07 -2.4%

In Gordon Brown's government:
2007/08 -2.5%
2008/09 -4.9%
2009/10 -10.9%

In David Cameron's government:
2010/11 -9.9%
2011/12 -8.1%

The spike in deficit is driven by what happened between 2008 and 2010, ie the financial crisis. The deficits being run under the last Conservative government were much higher than what was being run by the Labour government up to the crisis, the deficit going into the financial crisis in 2008 was 2.5% of GDP compared to a deficit of 3.7% that they had inherited in 1997. For 7 of the 13 years Labour were in office they ran either surpluses or smaller deficits than at any time during John Major's government.

The idea that is pushed by the Tories that "Labour spent too much leading up to the crisis" just does not add up. Their spending levels were much more sustainable than the spending levels of the last Conservative government. It is true that Labour spent much more on public services, because the Conservatives high deficit levels were not because of high spending on public services but because unemployment was so high then, so they had fewer people contributing tax and more people claiming benefits. The Conservatives were paying for a high bill of social failure. When Labour came in and unemployment fell (despite bringing in the minimum wage) the public finances got much better.

The same would happen if we returned to a growing economy now and got back on top of unemployment. The deficit melts away when you approach full employment. When you have high unemployment you will always have a deficit no matter how much 'austerity' you have, we had 17 years of Tory austerity and cuts and we were still running high deficits in their final years in office!

One more point of interest, George Osborne's Fiscal Mandate is that by 2015 the "current budget" should be in balance. The current budget is the left hand column in that table. This is where you disregard anything classed as "investment spending", eg when the government builds a hospital that counts as investment spend, when it pays doctors and nurses that counts as current spend. The Office for Budget Responsibility are going to release figures soon that are expected to say they forecast he will miss that target. However we were pretty much on that target in 2007/08, the current budget was in deficit of just 0.7% of GDP, rising to 7.2% by 2010 due to the financial crisis. So again this idea that we were spending unsustainably leading up to the financial crisis does not add up, Osborne would love to have a current budget deficit of 0.7% by 2015.