More Brown misery at recession alert
Gordon Brown's drive to save the housing market from collapse was undermined yesterday when the gamble to axe stamp duty for almost half of all property sales was quickly followed by dire predictions that the UK would be the only major economy to slip into recession this year.
The prime minister's economic fight-back plan, the start of a month-long battle to save his premiership, began with the surprise announcement of a year-long stamp duty holiday on any house sale under £175,000, starting today. But the scheme - which the Treasury claimed will cost an estimated £600m - was dismissed as a sticking plaster by the housing industry.
Within hours, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) predicted recession for Britain, while the other G7 countries will all see modest growth or a standstill.
The British economy will contract in this quarter and the next, it said, striking at Brown's repeated claim that Britain is well placed to withstand the world downturn, described by the chancellor, Alistair Darling, yesterday as one of the worst since the 1930s.
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