scorecard, a five-point test of their economic record. Every economy grows again after recession, and in May 2010 the UK economy was recovering strongly after the sharpest, deepest recession in almost a century caused by the global banking crisis. Economy - The economy was growing quarter-on-quarter at a four-per-cent annualised rate, and in George Osborne's first Budget in June 2010 the British economy was forecast to grow at an average rate of 2.4 per cent a year between 2010 and 2014. The policies brought in at that Budget choked off Britain's economic recovery from recession. By the end of 2010 growth had fallen to zero and our average growth from 2011 to 2014 has been just 1.7 per cent, the slowest recovery from recession in more than 100 years. Debt - In his 2010 Budget speech, Osborne claimed that "fear about the sustainability of sovereign debt is the greatest risk to the recovery". National debt then stood at around 62 per cent of GDP. Five years later it is an estimated 80 per cent of GDP, or nearly £1.5 trillion. He also warned that more debt would spook international lenders and prompt a hike in the cost of servicing our national debt. Exactly the opposite has happened, and the UK's borrowing costs have never been lower. Deficit - In 2010, the Chancellor announced a binding "formal mandate" that the books "should be in balance in the final year of the five-year forecast period, which is 2015-16". The failure on this score is astonishing. Far from balance, the latest forecasts in December show that deficit is set to be £83 billion in 2015-16 and the point at which he claims he'll "balance the books" won't now be until 2018-19. All in it together - George Osborne promised people that the Coalition government would build "an economy where prosperity is shared among all sections of society and all parts of the country". Five years on those words ring hollow in a Britain of food banks and billion-pound bank bonuses. The Gini measure of UK inequality fell when top incomes were hit in the wake of the global financial crisis but is now rising again, while a cumulative impact assessment of tax and benefit changes in this Parliament for the Equality and Human Rights Commission shows the poorest 10 per cent – lowest income group – have been hit the hardest. Regions - After 10 years with Labour's Regional Development Agencies when the poorer English regions were able to achieve almost the same rate of GVA (Gross Value Added) growth as the prosperous regions, the gap has grown every year since 2010 and the income of the UK's richest region is now more than 10 times that of the poorest. Far from establishing a "Northern Powerhouse", real output per head has actually shrunk since 2010 in the North West and Yorkshire. Justin Beament Down St Mary