British chancellor's crowd-pleasing measures may backfire

London

ADROIT political campaigner George Osborne has chosen populist economic giveaways ahead of the May UK general election.

The big question for the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Conservative Party, however, is whether "he is being too clever by half", say critics.

Despite Mr Osborne's optimistic autumn statement based on the UK Office of Budget Responsibility's (OBR) medium-term forecasts, the economy remains burdened by high government debt of 80 per cent of gross domestic …