Absolute nonsense. Raids on pension funds, massive expansion of the public sector at the expense of the entrepreneurial private sector where wealth and prosperity are really made. He's the one that has saddled us with the largest national and personal debt levels ever. He and Ed Balls are the ones that presided over the regulation of the financial services in the UK which allowed banks like Northern Rock to get into so much sh*t. He's as guilty as any American sub-prime lender if not more so.
Shite chancellor, shite PM.
I can't see how it has caused the economic downturn. Of course some aspects have made it worse, e.g. the public debt. But as I see it, you can't blame the government for Northern Rock offering 125% mortgages, or offering sub-prime mortgages. If Northern Rock hadn't offered such risky investments, then they wouldn't be in the situation they are now. That's not the government's fault for not regulating, that's Northern Rock's stupidity.
I don't believe that the VAT cuts will do much in the way of boosting consumer demand.