Absent the stimulus, the decline in GDP and employment would have been significantly larger and there would have been much greater financial hardship. That households saved a large amount of this income support means that their balance sheets are in a considerably better place than would normally be the case in a recession. They are better placed to support the recovery as it unfolds.
Britain can play an important role in boosting the flexibility of the European labour and product markets. Such a role is needed to stimulate the European economy, and to offer Europe’s 18 million unemployed the prospect of a new job. To quote Helmut Kohl: “To cooperate as closely as possible with Britain ‘in building Europe’, Europe needs the United Kingdom, and vice versa.