"We will safeguard Britain's credit rating with a credible plan to eliminate the bulk of the structural deficit over a parliament," read the 2010 Conservative manifesto. Well, so much for that. The decision by Moody's, one of the three big rating agencies, to downgrade Britain from Aaa to Aa1 on February 22nd was a colossal embarrassment. Moody's now ranks Britain's credit lower than that of Luxembourg or the Isle of Man. Will the downgrade harm the economy? In the past countries with lower credit ratings have had to pay higher borrowing costs. But neither America, which was downgraded in 2011, or France, which suffered a similar fate last year, have suffered much.
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