IMF Calls Time On Brown Economic Fantasy

4-Sep-08: Gordon Brown: "We are dealing, I think people will look back and say, with the first financial crisis of the new global age," he told the gathering of North West of England business leaders.

But, he added, "at root our economy is better placed to weather the global storm than it was in the seventies, the eighties and the nineties".

24-Oct-08: Gordon Brown: "It's a financial global recession everybody knows and started out of America, we are having to deal with the fall out. We are better placed in Britain than we have been in the past and are better placed that many other countries"

28-Jan-09: The IMF reveals that the following:

• Developed Economies will grow much less in 2009 that Developing Economies.
• World Economic Growth will be 0.5% (weakest since the second world war)
• Around 50 Million Jobs will disappear world wide in the next 2 years

Despite dire predictions for the US and the Eurozone, contracting 1.6% and 2% respectively the IMF points out that the UK Economy will contract by 2.8% in 2009. This means the IMF are predicting that the UK economy will be the worst performing of all developed economies.

The IMF have essentially set out figures which say that Mr Brown is either incompetent, a liar, or probably both.

IMF Report is here.

Perhaps Mr Brown can clarify for everybody how it is that if the UK is best placed of all economies to tackle this recession, why the IMF is predicting that the UK economy will contract faster and further than any other economy?

Perhaps Mr Brown can reveal what information he was referring to when he made misleading statements to the public regarding the state of our economy, particularly that it is "best placed". Was this Treasury information? I hope the opposition parties do not let this particular issue drop. Either somebody has given the PM very bad info, in which case this needs to be investigated; or the PM has told blatent lies and should be held to account for that.

Perhaps Mr Brown will now stop running around churning out ineffective initiatives for the purpose of attacking the Conservative Party and start looking at initiatives that will reduce the Governments debt and borrowing plans and put in place an actual economic rescue plan that will stimulate growth of the UK economy and reduce the public debt.