The Guardian view on Britain’s economy: to profit politically a recovery must be felt in people’s pockets | Editorial

The chancellor can point to growth and lower inflation, but weak job data, flat living standards and uncertain productivity are no reason to cheer In October 1991, the then chancellor Norman Lamont said he thought he saw some “green shoots” of recovery. He was ridiculed, as Britain was in the midst of a deep recession that it would not clamber out of until the following summer. Insouciant in the face of the scorn heaped upon him, Mr Lamont defended himself robustly, even long after the event – n