George Osborne criticised by committee of MPs
The Commons Treasury Committee has today issued a damning indictment of George Osborne's emergency budget which has seen an increase in UK tax rates and a reduction in the public sector budget. As a consequence, the influential committee of MPs believe that the UK will slip back into recession in the latter part of 2010 and may struggle to pull out of this downward spiral in 2011. So was George Osborne wrong to introduce an emergency budget?
Despite the fact that the UK may well slip into a double dip recession the truth is that the economy and the financial situation inherited by the coalition government left the authorities with no other option. There is literally no funding available within the UK government, tax income is set to fall and the public sector budget is out of control. Against this background tough decisions needed to be made in the short term and even though the UK economy will slow at best and possibly slip back into recession at worst, what was the alternative?
Whether or not the UK economy does slip back into recession is a matter for debate but ultimately it was a case of short-term pain for long-term gain or storing up more problems for the future.
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