It is a gift for the Tories. And the timing is bizarre.
The International Monetary Fund has made its global economic predictions and the results aren’t too pretty for the UK.
For 2009, it expects a fall in GDP or 4.1 per cent (compared to 3.5 per cent for Darling). And for 2010 the IMF reckons our economy will contract by 0.4 per cent; a much more pessimistic outlook than Darling’s +1.25 per cent.
The Tories reckon that these figures, if true, would represent a further £23bn of borrowing over the period.
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey