Britainâs economy will be hit by the global credit squeeze, forcing the government to downgrade its growth forecasts ahead of a possible general election, the chancellor of the exchequer admitted on Thursday. Alistair Darling told the Financial Times the squeeze that started in the US would âundoubtedlyâ hit the British economy, leading to an expected cut to his 2.5-3 per cent growth projection for next year. The slowdown will have an effect on Britainâs tight public finances, and the more gloomy economic outlook comes just as Gordon Brown, prime minister, decides whether to call a November election. Mr Brownâs aides spent Thursday playing down expectations of a snap poll, after this weekâs highly successful party conference for David Cameron, leader of the opposition Conservatives, although they stressed that no decision had been taken. Mr Cameronâs highly confident and unscripted appeal to his activists played well with voters, according to a slew of opinion polls on Thursday night, which showed his party making inroads into Labourâs 8-10 point lead. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1ea177cc-72b0-11dc-b7ff-0000779fd2ac.html Hmmmm...will it be 0.1 % or 0.05 % of GDP ?