If you believe that the government’s policies contributed to further imbalances, it might appear a little cheeky to argue: “Vote for me and I will rebalance the economy I further imbalanced.”
Today’s GDP numbers are not the highest under George Osborne’s chancellorship. But they offer the possibility that confidence and investment will trigger a virtuous spiral in the Uk economy.
Gary Gibbon
Today’s GDP figures prompted no tickertape celebrations at the ONS today – in fact, they suggest the country may do nothing more than bump along the bottom for some time.
Today’s GDP figures will have prompted relief at the Treasury that there is no new recession. But longer term, the picture for the UK economy is unchanged.
On the face of it the recession is not just over, the economy has returned to boom time numbers but – as Faisal Islam warns – we should not delude ourselves.
Sir Mervyn King offers green lights to George Osborne, but promises no green shoots to the rest of us. Faisal Islam dissects the Bank of England governor’s comments in Thursday’s live interview.
Economics Editor Faisal Islam blogs on the economic hangover of the Olympic Games.
In the end, it wasn’t marginal. This morning GDP figures show Britain clearly back in recession, the dreaded double dip, with GDP in key one at -0.2 per cent.
The UK is probably in recession already, but the growth of the economy since the Oct 2010 spending review is just one tenth of government predictions at the time.
A few alarm bells went off in the Channel 4 newsroom yesterday when the Chancellor flagged up jobs growth as the silver lining to some rather gloomy GDP figures. Is growth in the public sector worth shouting about? FactCheck investigates.
Gary Gibbon
Our Political Editor looks at reports of strains between Number 10 and 11 Downing Street over growth strategy – and finds signs of political depression.
Faisal Islam on the subtle change in the Chancellor’s stance on an economic “Plan B” – and the 400,000 jobs George Osborne says the media is not reporting.
The claim “Fact of the day (because the BBC won’t tell you): UK spending cuts are currently smaller than €urozone average” Tim Montgomerie, Conservative Home editor, on Twitter, May 23 2011
My report yesterday on the GDP figures and Krishnan’s rather robust interview of the Chief Secretary of the Treasury has elicited some viewer feedback, and not just about my hard hat. Some correspondents felt we were talking down the economy by “arbitrarily” looking at the flat economy since the end of September, rather than 0.5 per cent growth in Q1 of this year.
Can the economy’s slow growth really be blamed on the harsh winter weather? Economics Editor Faisal Islam looks behind the headlines?