Darling's First Budget gets the Thumbs down - Sell Pounds

UK Business leaders believe Alistair Darling's first Budget will make the economic slowdown worse and the Chancellor's reputation among them has sunk to a new low, the Independent reports. A survey of 100 prominent businessmen and women by ComRes found that three in four rejected Darling's central claim that his strategy would help Britain weather the global economic storm. Some 73 per cent said they believed the Budget would contribute to an economic downturn in the UK, while 23 per cent thought it would not, the paper says.