The Treasury accused Moody’s of being out of date following Theresa May’s speech in Florence. [Image: Maurizio Degl’Innocenti/AP].

The credit agency – composed of a group of elites who meet up every now and then to decide countries’ credit scores, based on nothing more concrete than their personal opinions – has downgraded the UK’s credit rating from AA1 to AA2.

The reasoning is that Brexit will screw up the UK’s economy – and, fair enough, these elite old guys might have a point there – and also that easing austerity and ending the public sector pay cap will pressurise the public finances, making it harder for us to pay off our debts.

Well, if some of the rich elites around here bothered to pay their taxes every now and then, rather than whining about everybody else’s contribution, maybe we’d be able to make ends meet! Am I right?

By the way, the Graun is mistaken about the date Moody’s downgraded us from AAA – it was way back in February 2013.

That downgrade came after Gideon 0sborne, boy chancellor (and latterly boy editor of the E’enin’ Stannit (that’s the Evening Standard if you’re not from Lahndon) had spent two and a half years using the triple-A rating as a stick to beat Labour, claiming the UK had kept the high rating because of his policies, not theirs.

And what changed? Nothing. The UK continued to gain favourable credit deals because it turns out that, having a sovereign currency (Sterling), we’re considered always to be able to pay our debts.

Now, with the credit downgrade blamed entirely on the Tories, they aren’t crowing about their record any more; they can’t. Their policies have lumbered us with the largest public debt in the history of the UK, along with a huge amount of private debt as well.

It’s a miracle we can get any credit at all – but then again, we’ve got that sovereign currency which means we can create money if we have to. That’s what quantitative easing was, after all.

No, this time the Tories are accusing Moody’s of being out of date, because the downgrade was based on the situation before Theresa May gave her Florence speech on Brexit, that gave so much more clarity about the UK’s future relationship with the EU.

Did you miss that part of the speech? Don’t worry – so did the rest of us.

This Writer is left with the impression that these rich elites are playing a game with each other, knowing that the only people who will suffer from their decisions are the poor.

The Treasury has hit back at warnings by the credit ratings agency Moody’s that the likelihood of a hard Brexit and a squeeze on the public finances would damage the UK economy’s long-term health.

Announcing its decision just hours after Theresa May gave her speech in Florence on the government’s Brexit strategy, the ratings agency said it had cut the UK’s credit rating to Aa2 from Aa1 partly in response to the looming prospect of the UK’s access to the European Union’s single market and customs union being reduced.

Moody’s, which was the first major credit ratings agency to strip Britain of its top-notch AAA rating in 2016, said plans to ease austerity measures and lift the public sector pay cap would put pressure on the public finances while slower growth over the next four to five years was likely to reduce tax receipts.

Source: Treasury criticises Moody’s after UK credit rating is downgraded | Business | The Guardian

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