The objective of the Stability and Growth Pact is to secure sound fiscal policies, which have remained a national responsibility in Economic and Monetary Union. Ever since it first took effect, the Stability and Growth Pact had been subject to a reform debate, ultimately leading to its redesign...

Front-loaded fiscal austerity since the 2008 financial crisis has meant that the UK economic experience is being viewed as a kind of test case for the proposition that contractionary fiscal policy can induce an economic expansion. The discussion has often been implicitly framed in terms of the...