Peter MacMahon's Business Blog: Gordon Brown's incredible shrinking economy

I DON'T know if Rick Moranis does political comedy. Perhaps he should consider it.

Picture the scene. Moranis, playing Gordon Brown, bursts into the Downing Street flat to tell wife Sarah: "Honey, I shrunk the economy."

OK, a little far-fetched, but you get the idea.

The Prime Minister has, we know from figures out today, presided over the fastest contraction in the British economy in nearly three decades.

The economy shrank by a bigger than expected 1.9% in the first quarter, compared to the previous three month period.

That means that Britain's economy has now declined for three consecutive quarters.

Embarrassing for Brown, it's the biggest decline since a drop of 2.4% in the early days of the Thatcher government in 1979.

Brown made his name in opposition as the Labour politician who savaged the Tories' economic policies, and now look where he has ended up.

And of one thing we can be sure. Labour's old campaign song no longer holds true. Things, in the economy, can only get worse. Not better.

In the Budget this week, Chancellor Alistair Darling predicted that the economy will shrink by 3.5 percent this year.

All of which is bleak, but rather dry, mere numbers. Yet, the impact of the recession and the incredible shrinking economy can be seen every day.

Today we have learned that 1,000 jobs are at risk after the owner of struggling fashion chain Bay Trading said it would place the business into administration.

There was more bad news today, as we needed it.

Car production fell 51.3 percent in the year to March as falling demand forced manufacturers to cut output sharply, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

The number of cars produced in March was 61,829. Of those, 46,458 were for export, down 52.6 percent on the year, and 15,371 were for the domestic market, a fall of more than 47.2 percent.

Finding any evidence of those green shoots is very difficult.

But there is a a glimmer of hope today as retail sales recovered from a sharp fall in February to rise by 0.3% last month.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the rise in sales volumes between February and March came as sales lifted across all sectors, except household goods and other non-food stores, largely small businesses selling items such as books and DVDs.

So there is hope but to twist another of Labour's famous soundbites (borrowed from the US Democrats), there is a lot more fear than hope out there.

What is needed is, perhaps, for Brown and Darling, to come up with a Moranis-style gizmo that will unshrinking the economy.

Maybe they are building one right now out in the back garden at Downing Street.

We can but hope........