UK set for 1970s spending as parties woo voters

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Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn is making big promises - for big spending.

Nearly 50 billion pounds for public services - coupled with a 10-year 250-billion pound infrastructure plan....

Are the centrepiece of a Labour Party pledge ahead of a UK general election next month.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) RICHARD HUNTER, HEAD OF MARKETS, INTERACTIVE INVESTOR, SAYING:

"There's clearly a disparity as a general rule between election pledges and what normally happens..."

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, is one for whom such promises ring alarm bells.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) RICHARD HUNTER, HEAD OF MARKETS, INTERACTIVE INVESTOR, SAYING:

"It is slightly concerning. The UK, of course, has been spent most of the last decade trying to get its public finances in order, and the last five years in particular."

UK budget deficits, in fact, dropping from around 10 per cent of GDP in 2010, to about 2 per cent now.

With that in mind, a bigger surprise is the ruling Conservatives.

Ideologically averse to a bulging public purse - and authors of an unpopular austerity programme in the post-financial-crash years....

They have nonetheless announced the biggest funding increases for public services in 15 years - and also want to spend more on infrastructure.

A pre-election pledge, says Hunter, for a pre-Brexit era ....

(SOUNDBITE) (English) RICHARD HUNTER, HEAD OF MARKETS, INTERACTIVE INVESTOR, SAYING:

"Whatever kind of deal that we get with the European Union, assuming that Brexit happens, there's going to have be a lot of investment in the UK economy."

Such promises could mean, says think tank the Resolution Foundation - state spending at levels not seen since the 1970s...

A decade many identify with public finance emergencies.

The challenge for the next decade is how to fund it.

Borrowing costs close to record lows will help whoever wins, say analysts...

But while Labour wants to increase income tax for top earners - and raise corporate taxes.

Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson says he wants to lower taxes....

Public debt, meanwhile is already at 80 per cent of GDP.

And in danger of going only one way: up.