Responding to the downgrade, Dr Brian Sloan, Chief Economist at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said: “There seems to be an obsession with focusing on flawed economic models, even though these models could not foresee the crisis that is still very much with us.
"The Bank must base its judgement on what is happening to businesses in the real economy, as we report in our Quarterly Economic Survey.
“We warned twelve months ago that more urgent action to stimulate domestic demand through infrastructure investment was needed, to support growth and the region’s long term competitive position in a global economy. The Bank was complacent and ignored the warning signs.
