Further news this morning of austerity failing - the budget deficit for July 2012 was £600m - compared to a surplus in july 2011:
https://twitter.com/statisticsONS/status/237829010216857601
This year, the deficit is £44.9bn - up from £35.6bn in the first four months of 2011. This figure excludes one off payments made by the transfer of royal mail pension assets into the public sector - so when you see some people saying the deficit is lower now than last year, don't fall for it - they can only say this by including this single payment, which disguises the economic reality we are facing.
George is doing a great job, isn't he? Great piece exposing the intellectual dishonesty underpinning the coalition's economic policies. It was never about the deficit. It was about using it as an excuse to pursue a raft of policies that the Tories would normally not be able to get away with.
