Ireland and Greece are two countries that embarked upon an austerity package similar to the one that George Osborne is imposing upon the UK. UNISON and others have repeatedly said this was wrong because it would hit the vulnerable and just as importantly it would damage the economy and would not get our debt down. The graph below proves it.
Cross posted from the UNISON (East Midlands) blog
The graph shows the debt for a range of European countries as a proportion of their GDP - measuring debt in relationship to GPD gives the best way of comparing debt across countries.
The red bars are the 2009 figures. The UK is about in the middle. In 2010 nearly every country has a worse debt to GDP ratio compared to 2009, including the UK. But if you look at Ireland and Greece their situation has got far worse than any other country, thus showing the impact of the austerity packages that they embarked on in 2009.
The UK is still around the middle but that's because the austerity package has not yet been implemented. What's the betting that come this time next year our debt to GDP ratio will have shot up like Ireland and Greece?
