London--In the cacophony of slogans ahead of Britain's general election on May 7 one thing is for sure -- the country faces more austerity whichever party wins.
Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron positions himself as a saviour who rescued the debt-ridden economy he inherited when coming to power in 2010.
With economic growth picking up to 2.8 percent in 2014 and the unemployment rate falling to 5.6 percent, his Labour rival Ed Miliband has an uphill task.
But Miliband's centre-left party says the headline numbers mask an uneven recovery that has mostly benefited the rich.
Labour point out the average wage of a British worker has fallen by £1,600 ($2,429, 2,234 euros) a year since Cameron took office -- and that many new jobs being created are badly paid and offer little security.
Miliband has pledged to crack down on abuses of so-called zero hour contracts, under which employees have no minimum guaranteed hours.
Cameron has meanwhile halved the budget deficit since 2010, when it was above 10 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) due to exceptional measures taken by the then Labour government in the global financial crisis.
Labour says Cameron broke his promise to balance the books, although new data out last week showed the coalition government beat its own deficit-cutting target for the 2014-2015 financial year to March.
The real difference between Conservatives and Labour is over the timing of the deficit reduction in the future.
The Conservatives promise a surplus by 2018-2019, while Labour says this would happen before the end of the next parliament -- meaning by 2020 at the latest.
With a more gradual rate of deficit cutting, experts say Labour may be able to spend a bit more.
"In practice though, we doubt that the differences would be quite that large," said Samuel Tombs from research firm Capital Economics.
Tombs said the Conservatives could be pushed to loosen the purse strings to keep their word.
AFP
