According to the Financial Services Authority, home repossessions in the second quarter of 2008 were up 71 percent on the previous year. With the financial and economic crises now biting even deeper, the figures for the third and fourth quarters of the year will most likely be even grimmer. Of course, this tragic human element to the downturn presents a challenge to all the political parties: they need to devise ways to limit it. But it also creates a particular problem for Gordon Brown: the more people feel the fiscal pain, the less likely they are to go along with the Our Economic Saviour narrative of the past few weeks.
Peter Hoskin
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