Cameron rebuked by leading economists

David Cameron and George Osborne were today rebuked by two leading economists.

In an article for tomorrow’s relaunched New Statesman, David Blanchflower, professor of economics at Dartmouth College in the United States, and former independent member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee, will write:

“If spending cuts are made too early and the monetary and fiscal stimuli are withdrawn, unemployment could easily reach four million.

If large numbers of public sector workers, perhaps as many as a million, are made redundant and there are substantial cuts in public spending in 2010, as proposed by some in the Conservative Party, five million unemployed or more is not inconceivable … They could be our lost generation.”

Richard Lambert, Director-General of the CBI, speaking on the Today programme this morning said:

“the economy is too fragile right now for massive cuts in public spending so we think that the government should be giving a credible plan for getting fiscal conditions into shape.”

This comes on the back of an article by John Maynard Keynes biographer and former Conservative peer, Lord Skidelsky, for the Sunday Telegraph. He wrote:

“Almost all that Osborne said [in his speech "The Conservative Strategy for Recovery"] is right and sensible in conditions of full employment; most of it is wrong and wrong-headed when there is heavy and persisting unemployment.”

1. Will Straw says:

   September 23, 2009 at 6:31 pm

   Cameron & Osborne rebuked by leading economists http://bit.ly/1DUUTB
2. Pete Bowers says:

   September 23, 2009 at 6:36 pm

   RT @HouseOfTwitsLab: RT @wdjstraw Cameron & Osborne rebuked by leading economists http://bit.ly/1DUUTB
3. Frank says:

   September 23, 2009 at 8:06 pm

   Unemployed ex-public sector worker. The more the bloody merrier.
4. Shamik Das says:

   September 23, 2009 at 8:01 pm

   RT @wdjstraw: Cameron & Osborne rebuked by leading economists http://bit.ly/1DUUTB
5. Zoe Papadopoulos says:

   September 23, 2009 at 8:15 pm

   sucks to be Cameron.. http://bit.ly/4rwI4y
6. Ged Robinson says:

   September 23, 2009 at 9:08 pm

   Cameron rebuked by leading economists http://bit.ly/3OSNJ
7. Owain Gardner says:

   September 23, 2009 at 9:09 pm

   RT @gedrobinson: Cameron rebuked by leading economists http://bit.ly/3OSNJ
8. Jules says:

   September 23, 2009 at 9:14 pm

   RT @gedrobinson: Cameron rebuked by leading economists http://bit.ly/3OSNJ [that alone is enough for me to buy the NS tomorrow]
9. Hammer & Bicycle says:

   September 24, 2009 at 11:38 am

   Bad day for the Tories Pt1 "Cameron rebuked by leading economists" 5 MILLION WILL BEUNEMPLOYED UNDER CONSERVATIVES > http://is.gd/3D2Kd
10. David Cameron’s speech: Reaction | Left Foot Forward says:

    October 8, 2009 at 4:19 pm

    [...] according to Danny Blanchflower, Richard Lambert, or Lord [...]
11. NickW says:

    December 1, 2009 at 7:21 pm

    There is no recovery at present; there is only the result of huge amounts of borrowing to stimulate a dead economy.
    There is no golden rule that says that running a huge deficit until a real recovery takes place is automatically affordable and sensible.
    A debt compound trap or sterling crisis may take place before there is a real recovery.
    What then?
12. No George, business do not support you | Left Foot Forward says:

    March 8, 2010 at 1:34 pm

    [...] Could this be because in September, the CBI’s Director General, Richard Lambert, told the Today programme: “the economy is too fragile right now for massive cuts in public spending so we think that the [...]