Financial crisis is a genuine risk if government loses confidence of investors'

THE country is facing a "genuine risk" of fiscal crisis without immediate action, a senior economist has warned.

- By Steph Spyro

The UK needs a "complete economic overhaul" to avoid a catastrophe like that in 1976 when the government had to borrow billions from the International Monetary Fund, according to a report from the Centre for Policy Studies.

CPS research fellow Dr Gerard Lyons, author of the Breaking the Cycle report released today, said: “The issues we face are real, sizeable but are solvable with the right policies. The central aim should be to grow GDP per capita. All policy decisions should be geared to this.