"The UK has a budget deficit of 12.7pc of GDP, the biggest of any major economy. The UK collected tax receipts of £34bn last month, but spent £51bn – and we're being told this is a "fiscal squeeze". During the next four years, our national debt is on course to balloon by another 55pc – and there are massive additional state liabilities, perhaps the same amount again, hidden off-the-books in PFI schemes.

Spending more money to "boost" the economy would be deeply counter-productive, resulting in a Greek-style funding crisis. Annual interest payments on UK government debt, already £40bn, are set to reach £70bn by 2015 – what the country spends on schools and transport – as the national debt jumps.

But even those obscene debt service projections are based on low interest rates. The UK 10-year bond yield, for now, remains quite low at around 3.1pc. That's only because the gilts market is being supported by printed money and banks are being forced by the Government to buy sovereign debt under the guise of "prudence". Both props will soon be removed. And when they are, government borrowing costs will rise – even if the AAA-rating stays intact.

If the UK is downgraded, debt service payments on government debt will escalate even more. Once that happens, borrowing costs will soar right across the economy – not least for firms and mortgage holders. The damage to growth and jobs would be massive, dwarfing any putative gain which may or may not result from an extra billion here and there in government spending."