It is now official, the country is in the worst recession it has seen in the last 29 years and to ass salt to the wound, Gordon Brown has announced that he didn’t expect the economic downturn to actually hit Britain and that Britain will not be seeing any relief from the recession in 2009 unless major action taken in America, Europe and the Far East.

The Office for National Statistics has released figures that show how negative growth has hit the economy for two consecutive quarters, thus officially placing the country in a recession.  The Gross Domestic Product for the country shrunk by 1.5 per cent in the last quarter of 2008 after a 0.6 per cent dip in the third quarter.

The chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, David Kern, said, “The worse-than-expected decline in GDP not only confirms that the UK economy is in a recession, but it also highlights the critical need to persevere with forceful corrective measures.  While the short-term outlook is dire, it is important not to drift into excessive despondency. The government and Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) still have important weapons at their disposal, which they will undoubtedly deploy.

“The huge stimulus package that the new [President Barrack Obama] administration plans to introduce could have beneficial global consequences,” added Kern.

The British economy was set to drop between 0.75 per cent and 1.25 per cent, however, after looking at the figure showing the decline in the last two quarters of 2008 the prediction is set to be placed at a more substantial 2.1 per cent.

The news adds further pressure onto the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who has been taking flack after devastating unemployment figures, a weakening currency and banking woes.  Briton’s are now facing a truly harsh 2009 as the recession is tightening its grip.

The shadow chancellor, George Osborne, has slashed out at the news, claiming that the economic climate is the “worst recession for a generation”, saying, “What we need is some confidence that Government policy is going to pull us through this and at the moment there is no public confidence in Government policy and there is no international confidence in Government policy.”

However, Gordon Brown has said that he used “every weapon” in his arsenal to attack the oncoming recession and was only putting forward plans that would tackle the issues.  Still, Brown is taking criticism from many angles, but in particular from his own party.  John McDonnell, an MP who chairs the Left Economics Advisory Panel has hit out at Brown and the government for leaving Britain open to risk of depression.

“The Government has consistently failed to recognise the seriousness of the plight of the UK economy and has consistently failed to recognise the need for radical measures to tackle the crisis. Today’s figures not only confirm a recession, but point to a depression - especially in light of the Government’s failure,” said McDonnell.

Bookmark Us
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Google
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • TwitThis

Our Random Articles

More Links