A bleak outlook

Gloomy reading on the cover of the FT this morning – apparently, our economy’s heading ever more swiftly to stagnation and slowdown. New data reveals that confidence in the housing market has hit “rock bottom”; retail spending is dropping; and inflation is sky-rocketing. A dangerous, fiscal cocktail, indeed.

Of course, it’s far from good news for the Prime Minister. On a straightforward level, it makes his job more difficult – it’s so much easier to reign when the economy’s booming – but it may also make it untenable. As Fraser noted the other day – and as Peter Riddell writes in today’s Times – people are turning against Brown over the economy at an astonishing pace. And, rightly or wrongly, they’re now prepared to lay every fiscal problem at his feet. The housing bubble? Blame Brown. High food prices? Blame Brown. High fuel prices? Blame Brown.

The implication is that the more economic troubles we have, the more trouble Brown will be in – a reversal of what many said about this “steady hand on the tiller” when he took office last year.