Gordon Brown accused of economic vandalism
The outgoing president of the CBI, Martin Broughton, last night accused Gordon Brown of economic vandalism after increasing the U.K.'s top income tax rate to 50p in the pound. He also poured scorn on the UK government's forecast for the UK economy in the short to medium term suggesting that economic forecasts for 2018 are impossible and are nothing but a PR stunt. This is by far and away the most severe attack on Gordon Brown's handling of the economy for some time and underlines the growing concern about the UK economy.
The issue of national debt is also under significant scrutiny with the UK government highlighting a number of "rose tinted" forecasts for the UK economy which are very much out of sync with the vast majority of economic forecasters. While the UK government could turn out to be correct and the vast majority of economic forecasters some way off the mark, there is a growing feeling of a political bias to recent government announcements regarding the economy.
Recent demands by David Cameron to call a general election in the summer of 2009 are attracting significant support although it is highly unlikely that Gordon Brown would "give away" the next general election at this moment in time.
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