Brown's spend, spend, spend during his Chancellor's days has brought us into the current economy we are facing today. His appeal at a Downing Street meeting for the lenders to pass on cuts appeared to fall on deaf ears with HBOS, which owns the Halifax, increasing its rate on some mortgages from 6.09 to 6.59 per cent. Borrowers taking out this type of deal will now pay 46 more a month. On a two-year tracker, the rate will increase from 1.49 points above base rate to 1.99 points, giving a current rate of 6.99 per cent.

Other lenders are expected to follow Halifaxs lead.

If the Government wants the banks to lower mortgage rates to home owners - why not just offer them through Northern Rock? Everyone would rush to the Rock to get the loans forcing banks to match the rates or lose the business? Or maybe the government would then run into bigger credit crunch?

One of my daughter drove down from London a few days ago in the snow.
She blames Gordon for not repairing the roof while he had a chance.

I think this thread should be changed to "Is George Osbourne ruining the British economy".

this man is making the conservative party look like pillocks.

MM, What do you mean "look" like pillocks?

:-)))

Well I think Osbourne was right to slate Gordon the Moron for killing sterling. It'll take years to sort out the mess that Brown and the prat with grey hair and black eyebrows have left the country in.

You have my vote hilary

anybody who messes around with Mandy and thinks he can get away with it , is an idiot

anybody who opens their gob when Sterling has already fallen 25% and very weak needs lessons in timing

Brown and Co will leave a mess but Osbourne is not the man to clear it up - Cameron should have dumped him

Sure, sterling has already fallen 25%, but that's because the market had already sussed out that there was a problem way before Brown and his stooges on the MPC recognised it.

Then, with it already having fallen that 25%, last week Brown, King and Sentance started talking it down even further and Osbourne was really only reacting to their comments from last week imo. Maybe Osbourne isn't the man to revive the country's fortunes, but I think he was stitched up by Mandy in Corfu and I think he's right now to speak out against further declines in sterling below these current levels given that every mineral/commodity is traded in USD and we will always import more than we export because we're a small island.

Osbourne was just stating the obvious and weather he said it or not will make no difference. Sorus has been saying it for months and it is his opinion that has more weight. I have no doubt that Mandy will come unstuck again at some point. Osbourne was stupid not to have given him a wider berth and not tried to mix it.
He will learn.

I agree Gus at last someone is speaking out for the truth its a fact that Sterling is probably falling another 20% from here and Osborne knows the economy is going bust due to the idiot Brown.

Although not a supporter of GB it should not be overlooked that many currencies have fallen against the usdollar probably because there are so many us$s held outside the US. Sooner or later the market will wake up and after Obama takes over the true state of the US economy will emerge.

The dollar also went up under GB for a period of time. Wasn't 2$/1 a few months ago.

There isn't enough room in the Dustbin for Ossie, Cameron is already there.

Don't the pair look lightweights, scratching around for something intelligent to say.

What a pair, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb.

The question is which is the dumbest.

I reckon we may go 1 to 1 very soon and the same with the $dollar.

HI MITZY JUST a small question ARE YOU ONE OF THE SAME TEAM ( THE TALK down the pound) then say it ALL POOR OLD GORDON? WHO DROVE DOWN THE POUND?????SHAME ON YOU ALL////

well its 1.10 to 1 at the moment for the tourist and its a godsend to me .

I hate you Butler..lol.

You seem to have your ups and downs upside down, Fred. The greenback actually went down which resulted in cable going over $2. But that was all about prolonged dollar weakness and nothing to do with either sterling or Brown.

.....Meanwhile Mr Brown will today outline his latest plan to kick-start the British economy with a series of tax cuts funded by "starlight, sunbeams and happy, happy thoughts".

He will also unveil dozens of multi-billion pound infrastructure projects, including a state-of-the-art hospital for damaged fruit and a high-speed rail link to the undersea kingdom of Atlantis.

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/

Fred1 , you are right - the performance of the opposition is alarmingly poor , they are letting Gordo off the hook when they should be raising a lynch mob!

hil, I suppose it is not due to weakness. I think when the full effects of Bank "debts" in Europe and the rest of the world are understood, the will again increase in value. I think the actions of one man do not have the effect that is supposed.
But this is capitalism at its best.

Maddoctor, the present bunch of "Tory Toy Boys" couldn't find a tree, and if they did find the tree, couldn't tie the noose.

Actually, I think you'd be amazed at how the rhetoric of key individuals can influence currency markets, Fred. There's so much more that hinges on them than just the price of fags'n'booze in Calais.

The problem here is that Brown and the MPC are so far behind the curve that it's unreal. The market is far smarter than anyone in Downing Street and had the measure of things nearly a year ago. For Brown and co to be spouting off at this stage in the game is dangerous as they will probably cause sterling to overshoot and that's what Osborne was warning against last week when he broke the unwritten rule.

There's only one member of the MPC who's got any idea whatsoever imo, and that's Prof Blanchflower who happens to reside 3,000 miles away in New Hampshire.