Nicola Sturgeon: A 'modest' increase in public spending is needed. Austerity economics has failed

Greece’s Syriza party won power through a defiant refusal to accept more austerity. Nicola Sturgeon preaches a less radical message. Austerity economics has failed, she says – but her answer is for what she calls a “modest” increase in public spending, an extra 0.5 per cent a year, equivalent to £180bn by 2020, to mitigate “the most pernicious welfare cuts” and invest in infrastructure such as the NHS and high-speed rail.