MP panel podcast: Budget 2013 as bad as it gets?
George Osborne's fourth Budget as chancellor delivered a series of policies which are going to help ordinary people: fuel duty, beer duty, help for first-time buyers and the 'employment allowance'. It was also underpinned by a catastrophic set of figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility which show just how dire are the straits the economy now finds itself in.
To pick over the bones of the Red Book we've gathered a panel of MPs. Conservative MP Richard Graham, Labour MP Andy Love and Liberal Democrat MP John Thurso debate the problems at the heart of Britain's economy in conversation with politics.co.uk's Alex Stevenson.
The discussion posed some interesting questions:
- GDP: Are the growth difficulties just down to a few dodgy sectors, like financial services sector and oil and gas?
- Unemployment: Will the jobless count start creeping up before the next general election?
- Public opinion: Will voters be swayed by the claim that Britain is doing better than other European countries - even if that translates into reality as 'not as bad'?
politics.co.uk's past podcasts are also available on iTunes.
