We see this pattern repeated again and again in the UK. The voters, sick of austerity, will vote in the high-spending Labour Party which promises all sorts of largesse. Then they'll wreck the economy with high tax and high borrowing, and voters will turn back to the fiscally responsible Tories, who will balance the books but slash spending on public services in the process. As soon as they've "fixed" the economy they'll be voted out again...
Another good example is the health service. All political parties promise to improve it. But a government lasts 5 years and it takes 8 years to train a new doctor. So rather than invest in skills, they spend the money on very visible projects like new buildings, the boast about how much they've spent, not what has actually been gotten for the money.