Mortgage News
Davos 2011: Coalition refuses to ‘pump bubble back up’
David Cameron is expected to say the economy is making “progress” during a speech at the World Economic Forum today, despite figures showing it shrank during the final quarter of last year.
The Prime Minister will argue the challenges facing the UK are “not easy” to overcome but the budget deficit must be tackled through spending cuts, writes the BBC.
Meanwhile, the Guardian says Cameron will respond to the sudden slump in growth by insisting there is no easy way out: “We can’t just flick on the switch of government spending, or pump the bubble back up.”
Figures released this week showed the UK economy had contracted by 0.5% in the last three months of 2010.
In what is a concerted attempt to steady frayed nerves, Chancellor George Osborne, also in Davos, will promise the budget in March will mark the start of the fight back against “the forces of stagnation”.
Cameron’s speech comes after new figures suggested UK consumer confidence has slumped the most in almost 20 years.
Your First Home: confidence to build
Sponsored by Halifax Intermediaries
The GfK NOP Consumer Confidence index dropped eight points this month to -29.
In the 35 years since the index began, confidence has only slumped this much on six occasions, the last in the midst of the 1992 recession.