Despite his best attempts, George Osborne, the British Chancellor, could not hide the doom and gloom of the UK economy from his annual Budget, given on Wednesday 20th March. Figure after figure highlighted the dire straits that the economy is in, and Osborne’s announcements only added further misery for working people and the poor.

The credit agency Moody’s has stripped Britain of its triple A credit rating, humiliating the coalition government. It comes on top of news that the UK’s economy shrank in the last quarter of 2012, whilst the other two main credit agencies have the UK on “negative watch”. All this increases fears of the British economy heading for a triple-dip recession. The austerity programme has failed and it has to be changed.

The Bank of England, via its Monetary Policy Committee, has issued its latest report. Like every other report from the Bank for the last few years, this most recent document has sought to revise all previous estimates for the economy downwards. Once again, the representatives of capital are feeling pessimistic.