George Osborne has taken to the pages of the FT this morning, warning that the global
economy is in torpor thanks to a ‘serious malaise’ on the part of politicians.
His worries are well founded. Growth is anaemic in Britain and flat in France. Today brings news of fresh disasters louring on the horizon. The quarterly employment survey indicates that businesses
in the north are preparing to shed jobs.
The economy has been bumbling along, saved from deeper crisis by strong private sector job growth. If businesses downscale, it will increase the pressure on the government over insipid growth. Markets already doubt that Britain has the capacity to rebalance the economy away from financial services and poor employment figures will only intensify the disquiet.
That these losses are due to hit the north is also a concern. The north south divide is burgeoning and the government has put its faith in significant investment in enterprise zones in deprived areas north of the Watford gap.
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