http://osb.revues.org/1136
//Having begun by pursuing an extremely conservative fiscal policy during the late 1990s, Gordon Brown, as Chancellor of the Exchequer and then Prime Minister, presided over a massive expansion in public spending to improve public services. This expansion of spending was justifiable in many ways, given poor investment in public services during the Thatcher-Major years. But it was arguably not sufficiently financed through taxation, and direct taxation in particular. The result was a run up of public deficits prior to the current financial and economic crisis, which broke the government's own fiscal rules. This in turn prepared the way for a substantial deterioration in public finances when the current crisis broke, a deterioration which may take years, if not decades to set right.//
This is a small portion from an article on the above site.