Editorial: The economy

POLITICS is a funny old business. Yesterday, I was reading through my twitter account reading the various posts from Chancellor  of the Exchequer George Osborne and his “shadow” Ed Balls about the Autumn statement. Now, the two disagreed on everything. While Osborne said that Britain had one of the fastest growing economies in the world Balls countered by saying that it would all slow down by 2016. The Chancellor said that Britain´s finances were now on a sound footing but Balls said the borrowing levels were a nightmare. Now, Iknow that there is little chance of these two agreeing on anything but it did make me feel that they were both behaving like children. Now obviously Balls has to oppose the government but at the same time perhaps he could give some insight into what he would do if he was in government. What about Osborne and Balls working together for the good of the British economy and its people instead of just trading verbal blows on who is right or wrong? I suspect that the majority of the British public think they are both wrong. The British economy is recovering but there are still fundamental problems. Britain is too reliant on the financial services sector and the manufacturing base has almost disappeared. But Osborne should take some credit, though, for nursing the British economy back to health. But Balls needs to offer policy rather than just criticism. It is always easy to criticise.