Brown's Deficit Lead Balloon

Borrowing Brown's binge knows no bounds, for the first time borrowing £4.3 billion more last month than clawed back in taxes. The country is clinging on by its fingertips on the brink of disaster as 'recovery' spin goes down like a lead balloon.

£4.3 billion in the red and still counting. Upwards. And that's in the plentiful month of January usually heady with a healthy surplus.

Another record breaking triumph for Borrowing Brown. The Orange Party can feel a bout of 'double dip' recession depression coming on.

Not the sort of 'good news' narrative to adorn Brown's BBC. Bury it in the bulletins, old boy. Far too busy bashing Israel's Mossad Menace. BBC economics guru Pym tried hard with a sober take: "The sorry story of the public finances has reached another depressing chapter."

But 'Happy Pills' Pym soon lapsed back into Brown-speak: "The recession has wreaked havoc with government finances in all the leading industrialised nations - but even so the UK's annual deficit is one of the highest."

Claptrap.

The government is on course to run up a higher budget deficit this year than basket case Greece, reports The Times after gruesome public finance figures showed that it borrowed £4.3 billion more than it received in taxes in January.

And that's the first January deficit since records began in 1993.

Some analysts had forecast a surplus of £2.8 billion, which went down like a lead balloon when the figures came out, leaving quite a few with more egg on their faces.

The Orange Party suspects a dose of crony electioneering false hope and misguided optimism creeping in after popping the happy pills.

Never before has the government borrowed money in January, usually a bumper month for tax receipts and corporation tax to line government coffers.

Revenues have collapsed but a steep rise in interest payments to cover government's debt is at the heart of a desperate Treasury forced to borrow even more cash to balance its books.

Despite the relentless spin, the country's recovery will be painfully slow and tottering on the edge.

The only thing stopping the moneylenders from coming down heavy with a credit downgrade is a Tory victory hitting the ground running with a tough emergency budget.

But pricing in a Tory win lets Borrowing Brown off the hook. How easy to cast aside the woes, fire up the printing presses with £200 billion of funny money and borrow like there is no tomorrow - because there isn't.

Delaying the election date can only make things worse. But the cabinet is too busy sailing off into the sunset, swanning around the country at taxpayer's expense on government monkey business, making hay while the sun shines in a desparate bid to squeeze a few votes.

Carry on borrowing. Carry on spending. Let the nasty party pick up the pieces and take the blame while the country lives on borrowed time.

As the Orange Party noted on Sunday, it seems 20 top economists urging rapid cuts to the £178 billion deficit are right and a handful of wrigglers are wrong.