PBR 2007: Why Brown's act is so hard to follow. By Alan Shipman

The new Chancellor’s difficulty in emulating the free-spending, low-borrowing feats of his predecessor reflect the unique conditions Gordon Brown was able to exploit.

The uniquely long, uninterrupted expansion of the UK economy since 1995 has been achieved with an equally unique public-sector balancing act, enabling Gordon Brown to move from No 11 to No 10 Downing Street with a plausible claim to have balanced the budget across the economic cycle.

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