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Well I also remember Osborne in his budget saying that employment was growing fastest in the north west and the midlands

Sure figures can be misleading, either side of the debate can point to numbers to back up their argument and contradict the other side mainly because, well, economics is complicated, and different economic measures can prove different things. One of the stupid things about this election campaign was how all parties left themselves no room for leeway and tied themselves into straight-jackets of their own making with a lot of their pledges. Its stupid to create a law to rule out tax rises or to make guarantees based on continued strong economic growth and not having a plan b. As Labour love to remind us, we are deeply affected by whatever will happen in the rest of the financial world. Fundamentally I do think we're in a fairly stable position though, and as long as the government is sensible in the next five years then the country as a whole will benefit from that