With the European Central Bank unwilling to cut its interest rates, is it really the Crisis in the Eurozone That has prompted the Chancellor to change so radically his views on quantitative easing?

They reflect the overhang of the debt and the deficit that we have to deal with; they reflect the higher food and fuel prices that put a squeeze on household income towards the end of last year; and they also reflect the Crisis in the Eurozone That has frozen Europe's economies.