During the past five years, there has been a major deterioration in our financial position. We were running a remarkable financial surplus of 1.6 per cent of gross domestic product in 2000/01. Now, in the current year, the budget has descended into a deficit of three per cent.Economic growth rolled along at a pretty good rate in the earlier years of Mr Brown's stewardship, but in the current year it has declined to only 1.75 per cent. Government spending has risen to more than 42 per cent of GDP and is now at or near the point where rising government expenditure will overtake the falling government expenditure of Germany. After years of falling unemployment, the jobless total is now rising.
It is not quite a crisis, but the numbers that - for the first half of Mr Brown's term - went well, have turned nasty. What is more, Mr Brown did not see any of this coming.
This is from the Daily Telegraph editorial today, to which I contributed.
Posted by James Bartholomew • Indexed in Tax and growth
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Who could ever have imagined that nine years of socialism could have lead to growing debt, falling competitiveness and higher taxes. Amazing.
Posted by: John East at March 23, 2006 01:53 PM