Osborne would wonder what the problem is - he's bang on target, Labour still to blame for their wicked socialist ways when it was their half-arsed neo-liberalism that helped turn a global downturn into a crisis, the govt. are on course flogging everything including what is left of the NHS, the Post Office and gifting tax cuts to their corporate backers no-one would have dreamed possible a few years ago. For Osborne it's going swimmingly, surely.

When your economic policies are making things WORSE and you refuse to change them then it means that what you are doing is ideologically driven rather based on what is actually happening in in the real world. This exposes Osborne and the Tories as being economically bankrupt and that is what they will end up inflicting upon the economy with those least able to adapt to the cuts being left the worst off.
Lots of pain but NO GAIN.

Even the International Monetary Fund concluded, “the idea that fiscal austerity stimulates economic activity in the short term finds little support in the data.”
See Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain etc for proof. Excessive loans at low interest rates in a currency you do not control lead inevitably to defaults.
Record debt growth is due to the finance sector’s crimes not ‘Labour’s debt crisis’, as the Conservative Party claimed, but, as George Osborne admitted, “private sector debt was the cause of the crisis’.
The government attack on public services is switching debt from the government’s books to private households.
Britain’s banks rely on us for support, to pay bonuses (£22 billion this year) and dividends, while the pay of those on low to medium incomes is forecast to flatline until 2015 – average pay will be no higher by 2015 than it was in 2001 – capitalism does not deliver the goods, unless you are a capitalist.
Total public sector net debt, including the financial interventions, that is, the £1.342 trillion we paid to rescue the banks, was £2.252 trillion.

There isn't a Plan B.
These clueless twats haven't even got a Plan A.

"Recent economic figures have shown the government urgently needs a Plan B."

Why ?

Plan A is to reduce the deficit whilst maintaining economic growth and boosting employment.

All this is happening. Despite fears to the contrary growth has not collapsed, we aren't back in recession, unemployment is falling, employment is rising and the UK is making the slow transformation away from an economy driven by its housing market to one where exports and manufacturing contribute more.

Sure, inflation is higher than expected, due to global rises in oil and food, and this is cutting into living standards, but this is largely outside of the Chancellor's control.

Though of course inflation would be very much worse with Ed Balls in charge as higher borrowing would cause the pound to fall, thus making imports of oil and food even more expensive.

Growth of 0.5% after a retraction of 0.5% leaves us at zero.

When every major economy in the world seems to be showing genuine growth we are stuck at 0.

Surely Osbourne should prove he understands figures by finding a way of helping the economy rather then creating the highest youth unemployment of all time and attacking the public sector for the mistakes the banks (his backers) have made!

@Indu

"But what did our kids get for it?"

Massive improvements in infrastructure, from hospitals to be born and die in to schools and universities to be taught in. Not being born into poverty, having trains that don't crash every 5 minutes.

"Over the same time, Labour precided over the fastest decline in the UK industrial base since the 1970's. Industry is "grubby" and not the the champaign and canopes political elite."

LOL! Are you stuck in a time warp in 1979? Did the whole Thatcherite revolution pass you by? Free markets? Picking winners? Lame ducks?

"The £350Bn (two Japenese earth quakes) is enough to develop a world leading sustainable engery industry"

Rather poor taste to be using the tragic events in Japan as a scale.

@CD

"Thank you for confirming my stereotypes of the typical intellectual capacity of a labour supporter with your offensive and useless opinion"

Yawn, this is the internet pal.

'change course on his deficit reduction strategy, saying that it is "stalling" NOW!! what deficit reduction strategy would that be?

"Plan A is to reduce the deficit whilst maintaining economic growth and boosting employment. All this is happening."

Economy has flatlined in the past six months, output lost in Q4 2010 not fully recovered in Q1 2011, OBR growth forecasts downgraded four times, May's manufacturing, exports, consumer confidence figures, all down. Where do you live Nick, La-La-Land?

Luddite writes, 'what deficit reduction strategy would that be?'

What is the purpose of what Osborne is doing if it isn't to reduce the deficit? Surely it couldn't be to privatise everything that moves.

George has a fail-safe strategy. Plan 9 from Outer Space! He hasn't got a Plan B - the plan he has is out of this world. No, Ronnie is not on the cast list - too flaky!

Black & White

It looks like Eddy S has never heard of VAT or National insurance, otherwise, he would have mentioned both have been increased by Osborne.

That thick cnut aint got a plan owt. I'd sack him, but it would tek 4 more years.

@ Trueblue - re. your comments:-

If you must denigrate the "middle and lower classes" at lest try to use correct spelling and punctuation. My family, with degrees in Physics and Engineering, contribute greatly to the economic recovery. Your crude, divisive remarks contribute nothing.

If plan A fails the Tories will be out for a generation.

The cost will be the millions unemployed and a truly broken society.

Does this sound like a repeat experience to anyone??? (1997?)