THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britain's economy shrank unexpectedly in the final three months of last year as heavy snow compounded a slowdown in growth.Gross domestic product fell 0.5pc in the fourth quarter, the most in more than a year, the Office for National Statistics reported on Tuesday. The decline compared with growth of 0.7pc in the third quarter.
George Osborne insisted that the Government will press ahead with planned cuts to public spending, despite warnings from forecasters that the economy may be too weak to withstand the package.
Blaming the growth figures on the cold weather, Mr Osborne maintained that a weakening in efforts to tackle the deficit would pose a greater bigger threat to the nation's future prosperity.
"There is no question of changing a fiscal plan that has established international credibility on the back of one very cold month. That would plunge Britain back into a financial crisis," the Chancellor said.
"We will not be blown off course by bad weather." Read on and comment >>> | Tuesday, January 25, 2011
