The Prime Minister will be relieved that rates remain unchanged, though this offers scant comfort to all those families struggling to meet their mortgage repayments and pay other household bills.

Those on the receiving end of such harsh realities also know, from their own personal experiences, that Britain is on the cusp of a recession. They did not have to wait until Chancellor Alistair Darling provided official confirmation last weekend with his unexpected candour.

However, they had every right to be incredulous when Mr Brown sought, once again, to retain the pretence that the UK is "better-placed than it has been in the past" to withstand the difficulties facing the economy.

Who does the Prime Minister think he is kidding?

Mr Darling clearly does not share this confidence. Nor does the OECD, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which says the UK would be the only major economy to fall into recession this year. And nor does Charles Clarke, the former Home Secretary, who believes Mr Brown has just months left to prove himself.

But, more importantly, the Prime Minister is deluding himself if he persists in ignoring the judgment of voters in recent elections, and opinion polls, who are becoming even more frustrated by the failure of Labour's leader to recognise the seriousness of the unfolding economic crisis.

Taxpayers had been holding out for Mr Brown's much vaunted economic rescue plan. Now it appears this long-trailed initiative is little more than a series of vague platitudes on housing and energy policy, funded from unknown sources, and which will actually benefit very few people.

Instead of remaining in denial about the current difficulties, the Prime Minister has to accept that the UK's problems stem from a confluence of world events and his own mismanagement of the economy.

If he does not recognise this, Mr Brown, frankly, does not deserve the opportunity to stay in office and should have the grace to make way
for a leader who is more attuned to the concerns of hardworking families.