Growth no more

The latest economic growth statistics – which show that growth in the second quarter of 2008 stood at a less-than-impressive 0 percent – deny Brown one of his proudest boasts; that the UK economy’s enjoyed “63 quarters of successive growth”.  Annual growth remains positive at 1.4 percent, though, so I expect he’ll replace it with something like “Year-on-year, this country’s enjoyed continuous growth under New Labour.”  That is if he’s still using the New Labour epithet.

But quite aside from constraining our Prime Minister at the dispatch box, the figures are worrying in themselves.  Now a recession is looking near-certain, and it seems as though it’s coming sooner rather than later.  Indeed, the industrial economy is already in recession.

One of the political narratives of the past year has been that voters are, to some extent, laying the blame for their fiscal woes at Brown’s feet.  As the economy worsens, his grip on power has become looser and looser.  Unless the much-vaunted recovery plan turns out to be a miracle cure (and, as Martin