Government spending is set to rise to 50 per cent of GDP in 2010-11, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research. In 2007-08 it was 41.1 per cent.

For some regions, including North East England, Wales and Northern Ireland the proportion will approach or exceed two thirds of regional output - 63.1 per cent in the North East, 69.1 per cent in Wales, and 69.2 per cent in Northern Ireland. Some parts of the state have become so dependent on the public sector that it is crowding out private enterprise and making a private sector-led recovery more difficult, the centre warns. Read it here