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David Cameron took an average of £859 from each of our pockets to pay for austerity.

New analysis by Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell shows that’s what it cost in lost pay rises to save £30billion on public spending.

By abandoning big building projects which would have seen new hospitals, schools and roads the then PM hamstrung the economy instead.

Now Chancellor Philip Hammond is being urged to reverse the cuts in his mini-budget in ten days.

If he does not the money we will each lose will reach £1,121 by 2020.

Mr Cameron’s target was to save £1 in every £100 of Government spending for ten years.

Had he not imposed these cuts the UK could have hired 22,000 teachers or 25,000 nurses every year for a decade.

The extra economic growth that would have created would also have meant pay rises. But Mr Cameron hoped no one would notice hospitals and schools not being built.

(Image: Getty)

The independent Office of Budget Responsibility says that for every one per cut in spending the economy fails to grow by one per cent.

Mr McDonnell said: “You can’t point to a hospital that isn’t there, or a road that hasn’t been built.”

“To put those figures another way it’s like putting petrol in your car.

“If the tank had been full this represents how far your car could have gone.”

Pumping money into the economy was how US President Franklin D. Roosevelt got America out of the Great Depression with his New Deal following the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

Mr McDonnell said had David Cameron done that after the great bank crash of 2008 we would all be better off.

He explained: “The economy has not been firing on all cylinders.

“And cuts to vital investment have hindered not helped our economic recovery.

“That’s why Labour is calling on the Chancellor to reverse the cuts still planned.”

Brexiteer Cabinet ministers are trying to stop Mr Hammond spending extra money because they fear it shows a lack of confidence in leaving the EU.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said: “There is no need for any economic stimulus.

“We need common sense not panic. If you go on a spending spree people will think there’s a reason to panic.”