Tax rises and spending cuts are the only way to stave off greater pain

Telegraph
"One of the biggest misconceptions about the crisis facing the public finances over the next few years is that it is all a consequence of a spendthrift Labour Government and its recidivist debtor tendencies.Yes, that is an important part of it. When he took control of the UK economy in 1997, Gordon Brown had public finances that were among the best in the world: low levels of national debt, budget surpluses each year. He inherited a well-oiled machine.Thanks to his spending spree at the turn of the millennium, Britain went from a state of fiscal virtue to having the worst structural deficit in the G7 before the onset of the crisis. "