From the Guardian:
Britain’s economy finally clawed its way out of its deepest recession since the 1930s in the fourth quarter of 2008, but it only managed to expand by a much weaker-than-expected 0.1%.
The keenly awaited figure compared with the average City forecast of 0.4% expansion. It brings to an end six consecutive quarters of contraction, which saw the economy shrink by around 6%, or 10% compared with where it would now have been had the slump not occurred.
It certainly doesn’t feel like the end of a recession, and it probably won’t for a few years yet. The repurcusions of this entire saga are going to be quite interesting in terms of what a future government (Labour or Conservative – sorry Lib Dems but it is highly unlikely that you’re going to win) will do in terms of policy decisions. Either way, I still think it’s pointless for any political party other than Labour to criticise government handling of this mess when really, to be perfectly blunt, I doubt they would have handled this much better.
