In most circumstances today's IMF report would be taken as a pretty damning indictment of the state of the economy and our prospects for recovery. However, because the IMF has stopped short of openly calling for a "plan B" the Chancellor's allies appear to be classifying this as a victory.

Our latest global forecast for the world economy shows prospects for steady gains in global economic growth throughout 2013 fading, amid signs that the recession in the euro zone is worse than expected and that China's recovery has stumbled.

The fact is, as you know, tourists don't flock to this great country to watch the footie, or eat in the restaurants. They come to visit the stately homes, for example. How much are all the volunteers who work in these places worth? Culture, one industry that is actually growing , has always punched above its weight. It is one of the key factors in making the UK the Number One nation in the world for the arts.

With a budget deficit larger than that of Greece, a reduction in public spending is essential if the government wants to achieve sustainable and continuing economic growth. But the ring-fencing of areas of very high government spending has made it much harder for the Chancellor to come remotely close to balancing the books.

The UK economy grew by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2013, narrowly avoiding an unprecedented trip-dip recession. The GDP figures published on Thurs...

The first substantive line of George Osborne's budget speech was: "We've now cut the deficit not by a quarter, but by a third". This might be surprising to anybody who read my earlier blog here, which pointed out that the deficit had (measured on a rolling twelve- month basis) been rising, not falling, for the last year or so.

David Cameron did a good job of changing the way the Conservatives were perceived. He made them electable by painting the picture of a more centre ground, caring, inclusive political party. But this portrait, so carefully rendered, has turned out to be a highly idealised one.

The ten things you need to know on Wednesday 13 March 2013... 1) HERE COMES THE TRIPLE DIP? A week today, the chancellor delivers his budget for...

As the prime minister and leading commentators have been fond of pointing out - and rightly so - employment is now back to pre-crisis levels, making this one of the few economic indicators not keeping the Chancellor up at night. Yet step back from a narrow focus on the number of people in work and the challenge we face on employment is daunting.

A picture of a chipper David Cameron enjoying dinner with Boris Johnson and the chancellor, despite being forewarned of the dire state of the economy,...

Britain's recovery slammed into reverse at the end of last year after the economy contracted by a worse-than-expected 0.3%, official figures revealed ...

Inflation is going to be a big story in 2013 worldwide but especially for the UK. While the Bank of England's asset purchase program isn't in itself inflationary, the devaluation of sterling is. Our largest import through 2013, because of the Bank's monetary policy, will be inflation.

Businesses like my own, from all across the UK, will tell you that while 2012 was a more positive year than those before it, there remains a demand deficit - there are simply not enough customers walking through the door.

According to new data published by the Office for National Statistics in the United Kingdom National Accounts The Blue Book, 2011, history has changed from their own previous publications.

Let's start with the important bit. The debt target will be missed. Despite stressing that the deficit has fallen by a quarter under the government's economic strategy, the Chancellor admitted in his Autumn Statement that debt will not be falling against GDP until 2016.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) slashed it's forecast for growth on Wednesday as the Chancellor, George Osborne, warned that austerity coul...

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) slashed it's forecast for growth on Wednesday as the Chancellor, George Osborne, warns that austerity could...

Weakening employee rights is not likely to boost innovation or the employment rate (much), and will have no impact at all on unemployment and economic growth.

The fact that the UK economy is officially expanding can only be good news for wider confidence, but the reality is that the numbers once again included many caveats, and a warning that the underlying condition of the economy is nothing like as robust as the headline figure suggests.

Britain's recession is already the longest since records began. Even with today's positive figures, it will be 2014 before the UK economy returns to its previous peak. But don't bet against further bad news ahead.