Britain’s economic recovery has been stalling since the Government’s spending review in the autumn of 2010, but this week’s worrying GDP figures show that the economy has now gone into reverse. Unemployment continues to rise and families up and down the country are under extraordinary pressure. Despite the terrible economic situation, the government continues to make excuses and the Chancellor has not appeared at the despatch box to answer MPs questions.

At business questions on Thursday, I told the Leader of the House that the country was tiring of excuses from a government that refuses to take responsibility for their own disastrous economic mismanagement and called on the Chancellor to face the Commons.

The faltering economy is alarming yet the government continues to just sit on its hands and do nothing despite advice from leading economists including, this week, the chief economist of the IMF. Carrying on regardless with a plan that isn’t working will cause further damage and as I’ve repeatedly said in the Chamber, the government ought to adopt Labour’s five point plan for jobs and growth to get our economy moving again.

If the Chancellor condescends to ever reappear at the dispatch box, we could also use the opportunity to ask him about the bonus scheme for the Chief Executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland. I’d quite like him to explain how a state owned bank, bailed out by the taxpayer – wants to give their Chief Executive a million pound bonus this year.

Paying their chief executive in one day more than someone on average earning makes in a lifetime is frankly appalling. The synthetic outrage from the government is all too predictable but they are showing no signs of actually doing anything about it.

Meanwhile, it is over a year since the Health and Social Care Bill was first introduced. It started at 353 pages, by the 2nd reading it had grown to 405 pages and now, almost two thousand government amendments later, the bill weighs in at a colossal 445 pages. And the list of Health Bill critics continues to grow including; The Royal Colleges, doctors, nurses, patient groups and the voluntary sector.

Even the Select Committee, chaired by a former Conservative Health Secretary, has questioned what the government is doing.

The Health Secretary is just about the only person in the country who still believes in the legislation.

In the Chamber this week, I called on the government to drop its disastrous Health bill and while they are at it look again at their proposed changes to social security.

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Angela Eagle is MP for Wallasey and shadow leader of the Commons