Chancellor’s spring statement is chance to sweeten years of austerity
by Guardian Staff from Economics | The Guardian on (#3HW9C)
Cheap borrowing since 2010 has fuelled property purchases and cappuccinos rather than skilled jobs and improved infrastructure
The chancellor's budget remarks on Tuesday, now downgraded as a "policy-neutral" spring statement, will be a chance to look in the rear-view mirror and see what a missed opportunity the past eight years have been.
It was a period dominated by George Osborne's portrayal of the UK as a sinking ship, where every Whitehall department needed to be scaled down, welfare spending cut and some services provided by the state thrown overboard.
The UK version of austerity was a leeches and mercury remedy, with George Osborne more akin to an 18th-century doctor than a 21st-century economic strategist
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