FIFTY years ago today, Tory Prime Minister Harold Macmillan won the 1959 General Election, campaigning on the message "You've never had it so good".
After the rationing and austerity of the post-war years, the British public was beginning to enjoy luxuries like cars, televisions, fridges and washing machines for the first time.
Half a century on, the contrast between the new-found prosperity
and optimism of that time and the message of doom and gloom emanating from the Tory conference in Manchester this week could hardly be greater.
Shadow chancellor George Osborne announced that if the Tories win the next general election, they will introduce a £7 billion package of cuts including a one-year pay freeze for public sector workers in 2011-12, a cap on public sector pensions and making people work till they are 66 – and that will just be the start.
It seems an unlikely vote-winning message. And critics say the measures will kick in just as the recovery is likely to be gathering pace and people should be feeling more positive about the future.
But Mr Osborne and his colleagues hope to get credit for "being honest" about just how tough things are going to be.
However, his insistence that "We're all in this together" – no matter how many times he repeats it – sounds a little hollow coming from the lips of a man whose personal wealth is estimated at £4.3 million and who claimed £400 from the taxpayer for a chauffeur to drive him from his Cheshire constituency to London.
The austerity message was also slightly undermined by pictures of Tory leader David Cameron drinking £140-a-bottle champagne shortly before Mr Osborne's announcement that teachers, nurses and other public employees earning £18,000 a year or more could look forward to a pay freeze under the Tories.
The Tories paint a bleak future for Britain unless there is drastic action to cut the £175 billion budget deficit. The national debt is forecast to rise to a peak of 80 per cent of gross domestic product – but Britain's position is not wildly out of line with that of many other economies.
And historically, debt levels have been higher in the past – not least during the post-war period, when Britain created the National Health Service.
Britain remains a wealthy country in comparison with most of the world.
No one argues borrowing can continue at £175 billion, but Chancellor Alistair Darling has already committed to halving it in four years from 2010-11.
And there is a strong argument that the way out of the recession is not savage cuts, but measures which will get people back to work and stimulate economic activity.
Unions have been at Holyrood this week, telling MSPs that far from being a drain on the nation's resources, the public sector is part of the route to recovery.
Councils and other public bodies not only provide jobs which mean individuals have money to spend in the economy, but also need to buy goods, services and equipment which help keep companies in business. Cuts, on the other hand, mean more unemployment and fewer orders.
Despite Mr Osborne's announcement of a public sector pay freeze, he cannot dictate such a policy in Scotland –
public sector pay is the responsibility of the Scottish Government.
Scotland has gone its own way on pay before – backdating pay awards for police and nurses three years ago when the UK government refused to do so.
And the SNP has indicated it has more sympathy with Alistair Darling's call for freezing the pay of judges and senior NHS managers rather than George Osborne's more blanket approach.
However, Scotland's overall budget would stand to be slashed under the Tories because the cash comes from Westminster and, under the Barnett formula, rises or falls in line with spending in UK government departments.
Some experts have predicted the £30 billion budget which the Scottish Government currently has could be cut by as much as eight per cent in real terms by 2014 under a Tory government. And, of course, benefit cuts proposed by the Conservatives would apply just as much in Scotland as anywhere else.
These policies could become the basis for conflict between a Tory government in London and the SNP in Edinburgh – especially if it can be argued the Tories have no mandate north of the border.
In that 1959 general election, the Tories won 31 of the 71 Scottish seats and 47 per cent of Scottish votes. Four years earlier, they had won 36 seats and 50 per cent of the vote. But the party knows it will be lucky to win more than two or three seats at the next election.
David Cameron has repeatedly said he will treat Scotland "with respect" if he gets to Number Ten. He wants meetings with First Minister Alex Salmond and has volunteered an annual visit to be quizzed by MSPs.
Mr Salmond will no doubt go along with all that.
But if Scotland's spending is being squeezed, there is likely to come a crunch point when a serious clash becomes inevitable.
