Attention: deficit disorder

In the first week of December, Investment Week reported that M&G's Jim Leaviss believed there was a substantial chance there would be a downgrade by ratings agencies of UK government debt if there was no attempt to tackle the budget deficit.

Two days later in his pre-budget report, the Chancellor failed to impress the markets with his plans to either deal with the deficit or cut spending. The fallout over what was eventually delivered in the report and what the Chancellor wanted to deliver has been played out across the mainstream press, leaving only confusion as to where the cabinet actually stands on fiscal policy but certainty that the government is deeply divided. Since then the number of warnings on the likelihood of a UK downgrade have multiplied, while the imminent threat of sovereign default has become all too real i...