The economy has gone precisely nowhere in 5 years, but at considerable cost

The longest recession suffered by any major country in this cycle seems thankfully to be drawing to an end, even if only by the narrowest of margins.  Such has been the severity of the downturn though, that, as the above chart shows, GDP has fallen back to the levels of mid-2005. The economy is basically the same size as at the time of the last election. This means for probably the first time in modern British history, living standards have failed to rise for almost the entire duration of a Parliament.  

Sadly, the cost of the economy going nowhere has not been as lacking as the growth or living standard increases. The national debt has virtually doubled since the last general election, rising from £440 billion to £870 billion now. By the time of the election in May, it is likely that Gordon Brown will have managed to rack up a bill of half a trillion pounds to deliver an economy that has gone absolutely nowhere for half a decade.