I entirely agree once again cheddar-caveman; it cannot just be laid at Osborne's door. However, I believe that to say "The Cons won't just borrow as do the Labs, they try to keep within their budgets, prudent money management." is to misunderstand how a countries budget works. We can easily lay that misunderstanding at Thatcher's door - it has certainly been used to frighten the voters by all parties since then but is really not how the majority of economists see a country; it is not the economy of a household.
My argument against Osbourne is that, while austerity was needed in the first two or three years after the global crisis, it was entirely the wrong instrument to continue using after that. He has disrupted the flow in the economy to such an extent that he has damaged it. No one should be against balanced budgets - why would you be? But you do have to ask yourself who the economy is for. In a country where part of our economy works on tax and government spending (another model would probably require Kim Jong In or an equivalent right-wing dictator who owns everything) to attack just one area - which is what Osbourne has done, destabilises the economy and stops it growing.
I watched an interview with Osbourne recently where he basically said that it was an interesting experiment but, oh yes, it's failed. Not a word about the people involve in his failure that he has put into poverty.
The Labour Party is suggesting a Keynesian economy. Most economists believe this works although it is not designed, by it's nature, make the rich richer merely by hanging on to capital; the have to make the capital work. If you like your Maggie Thatcher idea of an economy being like a household budget Keynes offered an idea that is similar in it's simplicity.
In the good time you save.
In the bad times you use that saving to spend on capital investment.
If you need to borrow in the bad time it is only for capital investment.
You balance your daily living expenses against income.
What Osbourne has done to us has left us, now the majority of economies are growing again, alone with the USA with stagnant income growth and now the possibility of soaring prices.