The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has contradicted Cameron’s claim that spending cuts and tax rises were not responsible for the weak economy. Cameron quoted the OBR in his speech, in which he rejected calls for increased borrowing:
[Cameron] said the OBR had made it clear that growth had been depressed by the legacy of the 2008 financial crisis, instability in the eurozone and a sharp rise in oil prices between 2010 and 2011.
The watchdog, he added, was “absolutely clear that the deficit reduction plan is not responsible, in fact, quite the opposite”.
But the OBR’s chairman, Robert Chote, has written to the prime minister to take issue with his comments.
“For the avoidance of doubt, I think it is important to point out that every forecast published by the OBR since the June 2010 Budget has incorporated the widely held assumption that tax increases and spending cuts reduce economic growth in the short term,” he wrote. “To summarise, we believe that fiscal consolidation measures have reduced economic growth over the past couple of years.”A triple-dip recession (the British economy contracted in the final three months of 2012), then last month the UK lost of its triple-A credit rating, and now Cameron delivers a triple load of bollocks. How much worse do things have to get before Cameron and Clegg admit that ‘Plan A’ isn’t working?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please note before commenting: Please read our comments policy (in the right-hand column of this blog). Comments that break this policy will not be accepted. In particular, we insist on everyone using their real, full name. If you have registered with Google using only your first name or a pseudonym, please put your full name at the end of your comment.
Oh, and we are not at home to Mr(s) Angry. Before you comment, read the post in full and any linked content, then pause, make a pot of tea, reflect, deliberate, make another pot of tea, then respond intelligently and courteously.