Even Tory MPs think economy will get worse

George Osborne thinks that the economy will pick up in 2012. However a poll of his backbenchers (published in the Independent today) suggests otherwise, with more Tory MPs believing that the economy will get worse than believe it will get better:

“In a fresh setback to the Chancellor, the ComRes poll of 150 backbenchers for The Independent found that only one in four (26 per cent) of Tory MPs believes economic growth will improve over the next 12 months. Four in 10 (39 per cent) of Tories think it will stay the same and a third (34 per cent) predict it will get worse.”