article_snippet.sent: When the Coalition took office in 2010 the budget deficit had reached more than £150billion – more than 10 per cent of the entire size of the economy.
article_snippet.sent: But Mr Ball insisted the note admitting that Labour had blown the nation's finances should not be taken seriously.
article_snippet.sent: Mr Balls said Labour would cut the budget deficit still running at £90billion a year – every year.
article_snippet.sent: Mr Balls said: 'Nothing in our manifesto is going to require additional borrowing.
article_snippet.sent: But Mr Balls was asked if Labour was 'credible' and could be trusted with the economy.
article_snippet.sent: People know that the global financial crisis wasn't caused by Labour's spending –
article_snippet.sent: it wasn't Labour's spending on nurses and doctors which meant the Lehman Brothers investment bank went bankrupt in New York. '
article_snippet.sent: In fact, in that year, the government spend hundreds of billions of pounds, so of course no money hadn't run out, but there was a large deficit, and we had to get no money down, and we needed to get no money down in a fair way. '
article_snippet.sent: The reason why we're more credible than the Tories now is that the Tories're not people who understand the need for change in the economy, it's not been all in it together, the Tories've not even balanced the books –
article_snippet.sent: it's going to take a Labour government to do a Labour government.'
article_snippet.sent: the Tories this morning slammed Mr Balls's remarks – claiming the Tories showed that Mr Balls's had not learnt the lessons from the great economic crash.
article_snippet.sent: It is clear Labour has not learnt the lessons of the past and would do the same all over again - more taxes, more borrowing and more debt.'