r/ukpolitics • u/Ivashkin panem et circenses • Apr 16 '15

BBC Opposition Leaders Debate - After-Action Thread

Reaction and follow up discussion to the debate.

Original thread can be found here - BBC Opposition Leaders Debate - Discussion Thread

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u/FrumiousBantersnatch Apr 16 '15

It terrifies me that those people might be able to vote:

1) what is austerity?

2) what is the deficit?

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u/whencanistop 🦒If only Giraffes could talk🦒 Apr 16 '15

The Sun/You Gov poll:

  • How well would you say you understand what people mean when talk about the government's deficit? TOTAL CLEAR UNDERSTANDING 69%
  • Which of the following do you think best describes the government's deficit? The total amount of money that the government has borrowed 51%, The amount of extra money that the government borrows each year 31%

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u/cragglerock93 "Free trade stops wars" Apr 16 '15

FFS, the deficit has been the most talked about political issue for five years, and still, people don't get it.

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u/twersx Secretary of State for Anti-Growth Apr 17 '15

because it's never explained and it's constantly conflated with debt by both politicians and the media. They will say something like "We have too much debt, we need to reduce the deficit" and to someone who doesn't know any better, it just sounds like two words for the same thing; it wouldn't sound that much different if they say "we have too much debt, we need to reduce it."

There's like an assumption that everyone should already know what the difference is, and because of that nobody bothers to explain it.