It has been a week of green shoots to please the most demanding horticulturist. Manufacturing output was flat in March and rose in April. Surveys of service sector companies show even greater optimism. House prices appear now to be bouncing along the bottom rather than in freefall. And the majority of City economists in an FT poll thought the recession was over – for now.
But sitting in his spartan Treasury office, Alistair Darling lives up to his reputation for caution. “I think it is important that people should not become complacent [about the recovery],” the chancellor insists.
