The Economy

I have plenty more; we will come to them in a second. Just think, ““Good publicity, good publicity, it's all good publicity.”” It did not do the hon. Member for West Suffolk any harm; it did not do him any good either. We do not know hear much from the Chancellor these days about snow being the explanation for the contraction of the economy at the end of the year, because as he knew at the time, it also snowed in America, Germany and France, and they all posted stronger growth. In fact, Denmark, Ireland, Greece and Portugal were the only other countries with falling output in the last quarter of 2010. The Chancellor of all people, a regular skier on Europe's slopes, should have known that even in winter it does not snow in Greece and Portugal. Instead we hear a new weather-related line. He blames the global headwinds, factors outside his control—rising oil prices, food prices, the eurozone, the Japanese earthquake, all reasons why prudent Chancellors should always be vigilant and choose caution over complacency. It is ironic to hear the Chancellor and the Prime Minister blame the rest of the world for Britain's economic difficulties, as they did the opposite for their last four years in opposition. Compared with other countries facing the same global headwinds, we are doing worse. We have gone from being in the top half of the EU economic league, to fourth from bottom in the past few months. It is no wonder that the OECD Deputy Secretary-General said a few weeks ago that"““we see merit in slowing the pace of fiscal consolidation if there is not so good news on the growth front””." Even the IMF has said that"““there are significant risks to inflation, growth and unemployment””." The excuses are not working, and the Chancellor is starting to be rumbled.