Critics hit out at economists’ Plan B letter
A LETTER to a Sunday newspaper calling on the chancellor to consider a “Plan B” for the economy has been exposed as a publicity stunt, after it emerged that just 15 of the 52 signatories were practising economists.
According to an analysis by the Adam Smith Institute, only 15 of the authors behind the letter to the Observer newspaper were “practising mainstream economists”.
The Adam Smith Institute found that several of the signatories were either retired or had limited experience of the British economy. Others were campaigners, or specialised in organisational studies or the theory of social policy.
The letter called on chancellor George Osborne to reconsider his economic policy, claiming that the economy is too fragile to withstand his spending cuts.
Shadow chancellor Ed Balls seized on the letter as proof that Osborne is cutting too fast. “If the plan isn’t working the right and credible thing to do is to change course,” he said.
But the coalition said it could not afford to change tack. “The reality is that Ed Balls and Gordon Brown didn’t leave the country with the luxury of a Plan B,” said Tory MP Matthew Hancock.