In fairness to the current administration, this was because the previous one had tested the equally ridiculous notion that if you stimulated the economy when things were going extremely well then debt would never become a problem

Edit: you can downvote me all you like, but that won't change the fact that the previous government ran up public sector borrowing deficits throughout the decade even whilst trumpeting their proud record of uninterrupted economic growth, and the only real disagreement in the political mainstream is over the _speed_ with which it needs to be returned to balance.