DavidSmith: Gordon Brown gets blame for budget ‘mess’

public finances are “in a mess” and will deteriorate further as the economy weakens. Treasury failed to take advantage of years of good growth to put our public finances on a sounder basis, so our ability to respond [to the slowdown] has been compromised. Sterling is a sitting duck at the moment, fundamentally overvalued and subject to speculative attack. Another risk is that policy-makers make more mistakes in responding to this situation. Our forecast assumes that we get the appropriate policy response. The worry is the MPC will fret about the inflationary impact of sterling and delay the necessary deep deep cuuuuuuut. davidsmith, give us a break!