The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, has admitted that the recession that has gripped the UK could last as long as two years, stating that the downturn was likely to be far worse that had originally been anticipated.

Some time ago Darling had indicated that he thought the recession could be over by as early as the middle of this year, but his prediction has now changed, and he had admitted that the downturn is worse than he had anticipated.

The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, also said that he had failed to see the financial and economic disaster coming, and said that there was little alternative other than to use taxpayer’s money to try and bail out the financial systems in the UK. However, Tory Party leader, David Cameron, said that Labour had now lost the confidence of the public and industry, and that this was vital in order to assist the recovery of the nation.

Cameron stated: ‘It is confidence that will be key to the recovery. We also have to get the Government finances under control, a proper plan for regulating the banks to make sure we have sensible policies so we get confidence back.’ Nick Clegg from the Liberal Democrats said: ‘My worry is we might be teetering between recession and slump if you get these major question marks raised about our currency and the viability of UK plc, the sustainability of our finances.’

When asked what his biggest mistake had been by the BBC the Prime Minister said: ‘We believed there was a possibility of institutional failure in the banking and financial system so we did all sorts of simulation exercises. But what we didn’t see – and nobody saw – was the possibility of complete market failure, that markets seized up across the world.’

Related posts:

  1. Is the UK on the brink of recession?
  2. Increasing credit card defaults making recession worse
  3. Is recession looming for the UK?
  4. Britain could still go bankrupt

Tagged with: •

Filed under: News

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!