Mr Balls, who completed the London Marathon at the weekend, also racked up the Government's failings: David Cameron and George Osborne, complacently for a year and a half have said we were wrong. "Out of the danger zone" they said, we are a safe haven, we will secure the recovery, we'll get the deficit down. And what is the reality? Unemployment is high, they're borrowing more than they planned and we are now back in recession. It is a huge terrible failure which for many of your viewers businesses and families is a hammer blow. 16.55 European markets have closed after a bit of a mixed day: The FTSE 100 was held back by the news that Britain has entered a double-dip recession, with the economy shrinking again in the first quarter. The index closed up 0.2pc at 5,718.89 points. Meanwhile, other markets in the region had a very strong day. The CAC closed up 2pc in Paris, the German DAX rose 1.7pc, Spain's IBEX climbed 1.7pc and Italy's FTSE MIB added 2.9pc. 16.45 It's not just the eurosceptics of these isles who object to the amount of money we send to the European Union to keep its institutions running - more committed members of the euro fold are also outraged by the EU's plan to increase its spending by 6.8pc to €138bn next year. French government spokeswoman Valerie Pecresse said: It is impossible, unjustifiable and unacceptable that the European Union asks each of its members to make efforts to reduce their deficits and spending, and at the same time it proposes a 7pc increase in its own budget. Treasury minister Mark Hoban also said it was time to hold the EU institutions accountable: It's important to get an alliance of member states together to make sure that the Commission and the (European) Parliament see sense. 16.35 Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein has given an interview with CNBC, responding to the criticisms of the investment bank levelled by disgruntled former employee Greg Smith, who publicised his resignation in the New York Times and claimed, amongst other things, that some Goldman staff referred to clients as 'muppets'. Mr Blankfein said: "we haven't gotten everything right with respect to how we've dealt with the public," but added that an internal review following Mr Smith's public resignation found "no substantiation" for the muppet claims, or that staff otherwise denigrated clients. 15.30 French presidential candidate Francois Hollande has said the euro treaty on budget controls won't be ratified by France if he is elected. He said he would renegotiate a new treaty or a changed one instead - and that France and Germany need to avoid 'conflict'. Since Germany is championing the treaty as it stands, that could be tricky... 15.03 US markets have opened for the day, and another record quarter for Apple is sending the Nasdaq upwards. The Dow Jones rose by 0.77pc, the S&P 500 gained 1.36pc and the Nasdaq reached 2.3pc higher. 14.55 Angela Merkel - on the same day that Mario Draghi called for a eurozone-wide "growth pact" - has stressed that the single currency area needs economic growth as well as deficit-cutting measures to pull itself from crisis: In Europe, we are called to overcome the sovereign debt crisis and the consequences of the international financial and economic crisis. On one hand, that can be done with a sustainable fiscal policy... but that is a necessary but not sufficient method of overcoming the crisis because we also need growth. We need growth in the form of sustainable initiatives, not stimulus programmes which would increase debt, but growth in the form of structural reforms. 14.25 Comment from Louisa Peacock, our jobs editor, on the effect of the UK's dip into recession on employment: News that the economy shrunk unexpectedly does not bode well for jobs and is likely to delay companies' hiring plans even more. Just when we thought things were getting better, with confidence and business outlook improving, this shock double-dip will send things back to square one. It also means that in the short-term, employees' wages are not going to get any better, with employers preferring to hoard cash rather than offer pay rises in line with inflation. 14.08 The EU website has a page debunking myths about the European budget. It's from last summer, but as the budget is expected to rise next year we though it was worth an airing for the first myth alone: The EU budget is enormous. What's the EU's response to this myth? No, it is not. 13.49 We have a video for you now from PMQs, where David Cameron admits the GDP figures are "very disappointing." He adds that the recession is a terrible blow, but that Britain must keep on trying to boost the private sector. 13.42 Germany's economy minister, Philipp Roesler, has called for the ECB to exit crisis mode and return to its mandate of monetary stability - bucking its tradition of not commenting on the central bank's policy: The ECB has our support so that it can find its way back to the normal mode of monetary policy and focus on its clear mandate to ensure price stability. 13.34 The Dutch queen has called for national elections on September 12, which would leave The Netherlands with a temporary government for four months. 13.21 Telegraph columnist and Wolfson prize nominee Roger Bootle has spoken to Robert Miller about the UK's dip into recession. "It could get worse," he says, adding that more QE could be on the way. The bottom line is this economy is stuck. 13.10 Nick Clegg has told business leaders not to have a "panicked reaction" to the UK slumping back into recession. The deputy prime minister admitted that the shock figures raised "questions," but insisted that the Coalition's plans to "rescue, repair and reform" the British economy were on track. 12.59 Hungary has promised to restore the independence of its central bank and, in return, the EU has this morning said it's ready to start talks over a financial aid package. In a meeting with EC President Jose Manuel Barroso, Hungarian PM Viktor Orban promised to restore the bank's powers and enter into negotiations on some areas of the country's judicial system. EC spokesman Olivier Bailly said: These elements will certainly allow more confidence in the legal environment in Hungary and therefore give us the possibility to lift our opposition to entering into formal negotiations with Hungary. 12.24 More from David Cameron: "We inherited from the party opposite a budget deficit of 11pc. That is bigger than Greece, bigger than Spain, bigger than Portugal. "If you dont deal with debt and deficit you will never keep interest rates low," he added, and claimed that cheap borrowing offered the "best prospects for getting out of situation we are in." 12.15 An interesting tweet here from James Kirkup on the spectacle taking place in the House of Commons: And one from the faux Angela Merkel: 12.12 David Cameron is facing questions in the House of Commons at the moment, and says our economic problems were "long in the making." He goes on to insist that "there is not a single business organisation or serious commentator who thinks that problems emerged in the last 24 months." The Government will "stick with our plans, stick with low interest rates and do everything we can to boost jobs and growth in this country. The one thing we mustn't do is to abandon spending and deficit reduction plans, because solution cannot be more debt. 12.06 ECB head Mario Draghi is calling for a eurozone-wide "growth compact" to complement the "fiscal compact": What is most present in my mind is to have a 'growth compact'. This was anticipated by the 'six pack'. We now need to go back and have a 'growth compact'. 11.58 More than 3,000 of you have already voted in our poll, with 61pc blaming Gordon Brown for causing the recession. We'll keep voting open throughout the day. 11.40 The National Institute of Economic and Social Research has released this interesting graph showing historical recessions and our recovery from them. You can see that the blue line - the depression we're currently in - is stubbornly refusing to come to an end. We're on course for the longest recovery in living memory. To make matters worse, this is part of their April GDP estimate report, which came in slightly optimistic, so the blue line should actually show a slight dip at the very end...