The problem is that spending is at 38.95%, down from 43.75% in 2010. UK Government spending in real terms is best described at a plateau for the past 10 years rather than slashed. The Government and Opposition were both happy (for different political reasons) to portray what we experienced as mass cuts. They weren't compared to what happened when the IMF imposed greater cuts in a single year back in the 70s.

The credit crunch destroyed government revenues, in response the Government ballooned the deficit rather than impose massive cuts. They've spent the past decade not growing spending so that GDP growth has caught up - in the process massively increasing the national debt.

It's great that young people are getting involved in politics. One can't but help think of the much attributed quote: if a man is not a socialist by the time he is 20, he has no heart. If he is not a conservative by the time he is 40, he has no brain.