>>is it possible that the last two are the shape they are partly due to public investment shifting to private investment
I would think that is hard to untangle. Labour did quite a bit of PFI of course. If you only had those last two charts, you'd want to see the first two on the same graphic so you see the sum of capital and expense spending. Those would suggest that Labour was very much mid-pack, whereas in the 90's the Conservatives weren't even in the pack.
It's weird though, I just showed these to a intelligent and educated friend whose comment was "but I still wouldn't vote Labour". Why? "I just have an aversion to all things red". She did say she wouldn't vote Conservative again, and to be fair the Lib Dem is less unlikely than Labour to change the result here in West Herts.
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