Osborne’s “Plan B” — like Plan A, only worse
“Our plan B”, so some Treasury official was recently quoted, “is to do plan A, but for longer”. And maybe with even more destructive cuts. The international economic organisation OECD reckons that the UK is already into a double-dip recession, at least for the end of 2011 and the start of 2012. The government’s claims that its cuts would close the budget deficit are way off the mark. In his autumn statement on 29 November, chancellor George Osborne responded with some feeble “growth” stunts, and renewed cuts; • Public sector pay rises will be frozen at one per cent, amidst 5% inflation. • The...