Autumn Statement: too little too late from Osborne?

CHANCELLOR George Osborne faces increasing pressure to defend his austerity programme when he delivers his Autumn Statement on Tuesday. Economic forecasts predict little growth next year and a failure to meet deficit reduction targets. But is the coalition sticking to Plan A, or resorting to panic strategies, and will it make any difference anyway?
 
Osborne must stick with Plan A
The chancellor will deliver his Autumn Statement against an alarmingly dark backdrop, says an editorial in The Daily Telegraph. Tuesday is likely to become something of a Black Tuesday for Britain, but given the economic climate it's "thanks to circumstances beyond the coalition's control".  
 
Yet Osborne needs to instil faith among voters and business that there is a plan for growth, says The Times. He also needs to retain the confidence of international investors that he will take no risks with inflation and the public finances.
                                                                         
Osborne must explain there is no Plan B, says The Times. The chancellor will rightly point out the need for spending cuts, but budget reduction cannot be achieved "unless the supply-side is in place for businesses to invest and create jobs".

Infrastructure spending will help
Osborne's main challenge is "to get the balance right between realism and confidence",  says David Wighton also in The Times. A key strategy will be unveiling £5bn of new longer-term infrastructure spending, and an updated version of its five-year infrastructure plan - a very effective way of stimulating the economy.
 
The economy may be stalled and the eurozone in turmoil, but there are still plenty of opportunities out there for British business, adds Wighton. "The chancellor mustn't overdo the gloom."
 
This infrastructure funding could be the most significant of all – creating thousands of jobs in the struggling construction industry, says an editorial in the Daily Mail. Some will have doubts about how it is being funded through £5bn of spending cuts, and asking pension funds to invest £20bn in Britain in return for future profit. But as Osborne has acknowledged, this is an "exceptionally difficult time, which requires bold thinking".
 
Too little too late
What's going on? Plan P (for panic), says Jackie Ashley in The Guardian. Plan A assumed that if you cut public spending, the private sector would bounce into the gap - that is now bust. As the coalition "scrabbles for measures to kickstart growth, or at least stave off a double-dip recession, they are bound to snatch some of the same ideas as Labour, however little Osborne wants to say so".
 
But is it too little, too late? asks George Eaton in the New Statesman. "Almost certainly yes."  The decision to fund infrastructure through savings elsewhere means that there will be no net increase in demand, little new stimulus.
 
With unemployment at 2.62m and growth almost non-existent, Osborne needed something special, adds Eaton. "This isn't it." ·