in the red
WORKERS, MARCH 2003 ISSUE
BRITAIN’S TRADE DEFICIT last year was yet again a new record, at £34.3 billion, the worst total since records began in 1697, beating last year’s £33.6 billion. Our deficit with the eurozone doubled to £9 billion, and with Germany alone doubled to £8 billion. November’s deficit of £4.1 billion was the record for just one month.
This shows the reality of our country’s economic performance, increasingly unable to produce the goods we need, increasingly dependent on others to produce for us.
Germany, once Europe’s powerhouse, has joined the euro, and it is now dragging the whole eurozone down with it, with 4.6 million German workers now unemployed, even on official figures. Would joining the euro help to solve our problem? The question only has to be posed for the answer to be obvious.