This has been a more than usually bad-tempered election campaign. We are going to press just as it ends, so as I write, I'm afraid I still don't know what the outcome is. However, here's what we do know: regardless of who has how many seats in Parliament this morning, they are starting in a pretty good place. Yes, we still have a budget deficit, and yes, all the party promises of more, more and then a little more spending during the campaign were uncomfortable. But nonetheless, the work done over the last decade has seen the budget deficit as a percentage of GDP fall to a mere 1.2% by last March. Practically balanced.
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