UK economy cries out for credible rescue plan

The following letter has appeared in the Times today which undermines Labour's plans to tackle the growing debt - which will have to be paid back. The signatories include leading economists,. a Labour Peer and former members of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee.

"It is now clear that the UK economy entered the recession with a large structural budget deficit. As a result the UK's budget deficit is now the largest in our peacetime history and among the largest in the developed world.

In these cirucmstances a credible medium-term fiscal consolidation plan would make a sustainable recovery more likely.

In the absence of a credible plan, there is a risk that a loss of confidence in the UK's economic policy framework will contribute to higher long-term interest rates and/or currency instability, which could undermine the recovery. In order to minimise this risk and support a sustainable recover the next government should set out a detailed plan to reduce the structural budget deficit more quickly than set out in the 2009 pre budget report............

The letter can be read in full here http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article7026234.ece.

The real cost of Labour's failure will be shown in the huge interest payments which this country is already paying and will continue to have to pay. The problems facing the UK economy are severe, this is not talking down the UK economy, but being honest about the real extent of the problems we are facing. The average family is already paying £1400 more per year in tax, thanks to Gordon Brown's stealth taxes. Once again Labour have taken the country to the brink of disaster, now leading UK economists agree - there will be difficult times ahead.