George Osborne has again blamed the double dip recession on the eurozone - the truth, however, is the causes of the recession are primarily domestic.
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George Osborne makes a familiar argument today, seeking to blame the double dip recession on the eurozone. The truth is the causes of the recession are primarily domestic.
In the Sunday Telegraph, the chancellor writes:
“Our recovery – already facing powerful headwinds from high oil prices and the debt burden left behind by the boom years – is being killed off by the crisis on our doorstep.”
While Britain’s economy contracted by 0.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2012, Germany grew by 0.5 per cent while both France and the Eurozone avoided recession with a flat economy.
Although trade was a very modest net drain on GDP in the first quarter, this was due to a rise in imports rather than a fall in exports.
The ONS’s most recent trade release found:
“The deficit in trade in goods with EU countries widened by £0.7 billion to £4.5 billion in March, compared with the deficit of £3.7 billion in February, as exports were virtually unchanged at £13.2 billion (up by 0.1 per cent), and imports rose by £0.8 billion (4.4 per cent) to £17.6 billion.”
A much larger contribution to Britain’s double dip recession was a 4.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter drop in gross capital formation, or investment (see Annex B).
• Eurobonds are about solidarity, which is not Cameron’s strong point 8 Jun 2012
• Austerity Isn’t Working • Sparpolitik ist keine Lösung • L’austérité ne marche pas 28 May 2012
• Europe’s right still full-steam ahead on mad dash for austerity 16 May 2012
• Will President Hollande be able to turn France – and the Euro Area – around? 8 May 2012
• Osborne’s ideology-driven economics have failed: We’re all paying the price 25 Apr 2012
Readers should remember that this is not the first time that Osborne has wrongly tried this trick.
No wonder the shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, says today:
“It’s deeply complacent and out of touch for George Osborne to blame Europe for a double-dip recession made in Downing Street. He will fool nobody with these increasingly desperate excuses.”
30 Responses to “Osborne wrong again in passing buck to eurozone”
Anonymous
I’m not a “troll” and find such a comment repugnant.
From what I’ve seen of Ed Balls he’s, as you said, ineffective but he also seems to follow the same guide lines which the previous Labour government followed (which put us in this financial mess in the first place).
The fact that Ed Balls comments are taken with such credit, which is understandable as he is the opposition, is worrying to myself and to possibly others.
I’ll edit my previous comment to reflect these changes as I meant no discredit to this website.
TristanPriceWilliams
He’s not actually the leader of the opposition, there is an even more ineffectual blikey for that in the person of Ed Miliband.
Anonymous
Ah yes, true and my bad, you can tell how much attention I pay to Labour these days. They’re simply not really relevant to the left.
Noxi
RT @wdjstraw: Osborne up to his old tricks in wrongly blaming Eurozone for Britain's economic problems: http://t.co/x83JrxZZ
Tom Bloomfield
RT @leftfootfwd: Osborne wrong again in passing buck to eurozone http://t.co/n4VQu0eW