The recession seems to deepen by the day. The Government’s £500bn bailout has not unfrozen private bank lending; instead, bank shares are falling again and further bankruptcies loom. Nightly television news reports the grim count of job losses and monthly figures show economic indicators plunging.

The legitimacy of the financial bailout programme is already thin; its collapse would rob government of a vital tool for economic reflation. Securing political legitimacy means adopting measures which will go well beyond the financial sphere.