Saturday, April 25, 2009

The Budget -- My Thoughts --- Andrew Allison

I called Alistair Darling's pre-budget statement as 'Darling in Wonderland.' It was and so was his economic forecasts today. In 1945 we had just helped defeat Nazi Germany. The country was - understandably - in tatters. What is Brown and Darling's excuse in 2009? All we hear are the usual mantras: global recession, unprecedented times, global response, the UK is in an advantageous position to weather the recession, etc. What we heard from the Chancellor of the Exchequer today was nothing to help the British economy. It was tired and lacked imagination, just like the rest of government policy.

Already the IMF has stated it disagrees with the Chancellor's predictions. How a serious politician, holding one of the great offices' of state can stand up in the House of Commons and say in two years' time the UK economy will move from negative growth of 3.5% to growth of 3.5% is amazing. It is a ridiculous statement to make and is purely designed as a political gesture; vainly hoping the electorate can be conned into giving this shower a fourth term in office.

Assuming the Chancellor's predictions are incorrect - which is a safe assumption to make - what will the actual level of borrowing be in a year's time? He is predicting 12% of GDP for this year. What will it be? Probably more like 14-15%. And where is he getting the money from? Who will want to loan the government this money? How long will it take before he has to go cap in hand to the IMF?



Continued at Andrew Allison - A Conservative View.

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