Set for the election

Professor Andrew Gamble of Cambridge University set the political scene head of the general election when he gave an AIRMIC briefing on 18 January. He said the results were by no means cut and dried despite comments in the press and at Westminster suggesting that the Conservatives were a shoo-in. Professor Gamble commented that the public had not faced up to the implications of the ballooning national deficit – and the politicians were in no hurry to tell them before the vote took place. Yet the finances made big tax increases or unprecedented spending cuts inevitable if the government was to meet its target of halving the deficit within four years.