Better than expected.....
27 April 2013
Some better than expected financial news this week has come to provide a massive relief for the Chancellor.
Some better than expected financial news this week has come to provide a massive relief for the Chancellor.
The pressure has now been placed on Labour who jump with glee on any bad news but in future are going to have to change their strategy. But what strategy is the question? That fool McClusky shows that the nuttier crackpot element of Labour still exists and the fact that this man's Union is responsible for providing a third of Labour's funding makes him a real problem for Milliminor - his slap down of McClusky had to be done but it was only for show.
Of course one quarter's better than expected figures does not represent a recovery. And of course the figures may also be revised and there is a long way to go yet before Osborne is out of trouble. But there is certainly a recovery going on. Some sectors remain badly hit, construction in particular, but others like the service sector are doing well. Small businesses seem generally robust at the moment and there seems to be an increase in mergers and acquisitions and this is always a good sign. A lot of this is below the surface though and will not show up in official figures.
Labour's worse nightmare would be for the recovery to strengthen. If Osborne were now to make the supply-side and taxation changes that I, among others,have been calling for then there will be some significant knock-on benefits.
1/ To the recovery - by instilling increased confidence in the businesses sector this way he will accelerate recovery through investment and expansion.
2/ To his political fortunes - Labour will be wrong sided by the changes that will incense them, they will go right into attack mode. While it may have some initial success, this attack will falter as recovery strengthens and Labour are then left without a fig leaf to cover them.
The main obstacle to this, of course, are the LibDems. Perhaps they should put the economy before their ideology for once. After all, an accelerated economic recovery will benefit them politically too. But then they are so 'wet' and pathetic we cannot expect any such intelligent response from them.
- Tom - a lot of small business activity does not show in ONS figures, particularly when it comes to those where turnover is below the VAT threshold. Much of it is therefore 'below the radar' so to speak. Yet these businesses combined make a massive contribution to the economy and employ a lot of people.
Where on earth any reference to the local elections is relevant is a mystery. - still not good enough there barry,half term report concludes "must do better".4/10 for effort.
- The problem doesn't lie with the liberals - the problem lies squarely with the deluded Cameron.
He is up there with some of the worst Prime Ministers in history. He makes John Major look like Churchill.
His idea of growth strategy is to build more houses and lead the world in the bid to change the weather.
An utter loser, in other words.
There will be no recovery. Things are set to get much worse but the Tories are in denial or worse still are afraid of telling People the truth of the matter.
So in effect to continue to blame the liberals for this dire state We're all in is disingenuous. - nice theory there Philip,but osbourne must take some blame,he is the torys money man at no.11.maybe he needs a plan b to boost income evan more.
Ah, what can be the secret of secret success? Tune-in again after the local elections to find out.