Dear Prudence - response to the pre-budget report

Manufacturing News, Source : TheManufacturer.com
Published : 28 Nov 2002 11:08

It came as no great surprise to hear the chancellor revise his forecast for economic growth yesterday. Experts had been predicting it for weeks.

It was also widely predicted that of the three options available to Gordon Brown (increase taxes, cut spending or borrow more), he would choose to borrow. All we wanted to hear yesterday was how much.

But critics have to find something to say, so we hear Michael Howard damning him as a ‘downgraded chancellor’ and Liberal Democrat Matthew Taylor laying the blame for ‘the real problem with long term growth and with British industry’ at Mr Brown’s door. On the other hand, TUC General Secretary John Monks praised the chancellor’s prudence and CBI chief Digby Jones said business should be relieved but wary.

British manufacturers have many things to complain about to government, but management of the macro economy is not one of them. Forecasting is not a precise science, as any manufacturer will understand, and while the struggling economies of the US and the eurozone have slowed down world trade, it’s the rhetoric of the chancellor’s critics that is notably empty this time.

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