Government blueprint - A plan for recovery

There have been many difficult decisions and chastening moments over the last few years.

Nearly every family in the country has felt the impact of the recession, some in life-defining ways. Just a few years ago the possibility of being able to exit the bailout seemed remote, almost impossible. There were fears too that the euro might collapse, a catastrophe that would have made our difficulties all the greater.

But the tide, as it always does, seems to have turned. Even if it is only the perception that the tide has changed we are in a far better place than we were three Christmases ago when we had a crisis rather than a plan. Yesterday’s Government announcement of a fiscal blueprint for the next seven years is a consolidation of that process and a recognition that we still have hard decisions to make. But if we make the right ones it will be possible to make today’s positive perception a reality.