Double-dip-dip-dip-'em
The UK economy contracted by a shock 0.5% in the last quarter of 2010. This on the back of the beginnings of a recovery delivered in the dying days of the Labour government, but of course claimed as its own by the ConDem coalition. (The UK economy achieved 1.1% growth in Q2, followed by 0.7% in Q3).
Given the time-lag between policy implementation and real-world economic response, it can easily be argued that today’s figures are the first to truly have Osborne’s name written all over them.
And what’s really laughable is that like British Rail, the British Government’s response is to blame the British Weather.
In a statement Georgie Porgie said: “There is no question of changing a fiscal plan that has established international credibility on the back of one very cold month.”