George Osborne is well-known as the ‘submarine Chancellor’. But recently he’s been out and about a little bit more than we’re used to. He went on the attack this month on welfare, and today he made a rare appearance on Radio 4, and then gave a speech on Scotland and the pound. Ahead of today’s borrowing figures – which show he’s just about squeaked home on his claim that the deficit is coming down every year of this Parliament – he told John Humphrys that the economy was recovering, and discounted the views of the IMF’s chief economist Olivier Blanchard, saying:
‘That is one voice, one person. The chief economist has a well-known set of views on this, which he has expressed in various forms over several years. The IMF will do its analysis of the British economy, as it does all economies – it’s coming to Britain in May to do that.’
One of the problems for Osborne at the moment is that there are many voices circulating with their own opinions and analysis about whether things are or aren’t working.
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