Why Osborne's excuse that snow is to blame for the collapse in economic growth is comedy material.Britain's economy contracted 0.5% in the last quarter, the most in a year, according to the latest from the Office for National Statistics.
While everybody agrees the figures are evidence of a double-dip recession on its way and even the CBI boss accuses the government of "lacking vision" ("Measures that cut spending but killed demand would actually make matters worse", in the words of Sir Richard Lambert), Chancellor George "Trustfund" Osborne had the cheek to seriously blame last month's snowfall and cold temperatures.
No doubt because he had first-hand experience of both.
But let's just suppose Osborne was right. At the end of the day, it is true that last December was the coldest on record.
It still isn't enough to explain entirely such a massive slump to the point of also cancelling out completely October and November.
The truth is that no amount of comical excuses from Britain's Chancellor will cover up for the devastating decisions they've inflicted on the country.
And a simple comparison will be enough to expose his bullshit for what it is.
December 2009 was also an extremely cold month. Granted, not as extreme as December 2010, but still the Met Office described it as the coldest on record since 1995, with heavy snowfalls and widespread disruption to the economy.
Yet that didn't prevent the economy from growing last year for the first time in six quarters (see this).
More. Look at January, February and March 2010. The three combined were all much colder than usual (January in particular was "the coldest over the UK since 1987 and equal eighth-coldest in a series from 1910") and each of them was officially listed as "anomalies" in terms of mean temperatures.
Guess what? The economy grew over that quarter too. No mention of bad weather there, eh?
The truth is, Osborne is useless and this government is so inept that they would still deny a piece of evidence if it stared at them in the face with a sign that said "evidence".
2 comments:
There's only one thing that shrinks that you can blame on cold weather, and it is NOT the economy. (So my chap friends tell me.)
Like "leaves on the line" or "the dog ate my homework", it's a bit sad they have to stoop to this.
Indeed, MM.
It's absolutely pathetic that a Chamcellor of the Exchequer had the guts to come up with that crap.
No wonder the British Weather Services rubbished GIdeon's comments and even Camron at today's PMQ was eager to steer clear of Osborne's statement.
God or whoever up there save us from this severely incompetent government.
Post a Comment