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Gordon Brown faces fresh pressure over his handling of the economy as a report from the EU Commission warns that the UK is not doing enough to tackle its spiralling deficit.
A leaked version of the document has already drawn a sharp response from the Prime Minister, who insisted the Government has "the most ambitious plan of any advanced country" to halve the debt in four years.
The report, due to be formally published on Wednesday, says Britain is not on track to reduce its deficit in line with EU rules by 2015. It also questions Treasury forecasts for economic growth over the coming years, suggesting they could be optimistic if the global economy fails to perform as strongly as expected.
The concerns have been seized on by the Tories, who claimed they dealt Mr Brown's credibility a "heavy blow".
Shadow chancellor George Osborne said: "We have been arguing that we need to reduce our record budget deficit more quickly in order to support the recovery. Our argument is backed by credit rating agencies, business leaders, international investors, and now the European Commission.
But speaking in Downing Street on Tuesday night, Mr Brown insisted: "We have the most ambitious plan of any of the advanced countries for reducing our deficit. We are going to cut our deficit by half over the next four years.
"We are setting out, as we have done in the Pre-Budget Report and again in the Budget, how we will do that to the best effect.
"But what we will not do is put the recovery at risk. The EU Commission has made clear that we should not have the fiscal stimulus removed until the recovery is assured. We will therefore make the best decisions for Britain, for British growth and for British jobs."
And Chancellor Alistair Darling, in Brussels for talks with other European finance ministers, said the Commission was wrong in its assessment of Government tactics.
He said: "The European Union must concentrate on getting deficits down - and make sure we can achieve sustainable recovery. We are doing it in a way which is sustainable, manageable, and which does not damage the social and economic fabric of our country.
Reader views (5)
More utterley disingenuous statements from Brown
"We have the most ambitious plan of any of the advanced countries for reducing our deficit. We are going to cut our deficit by half over the next four years.
This is a statement used to deliberately confuse the viewer/listener's understanding of deficit and debt.
The deficit (ie the UK's spending excess against its income) may well be halved. But the national debt (ie what the country owes to finance its spending excesses) will continue to increase.
Brown may have wheeled out 67 Labour stooges to tell the world that he and Darling were fiscally sound by not introducing spending cuts not
But, independent of political influence, the message is quite different, and if/when the media at large as well as the opposition accept that the only way to cut deficits is to cut public spending and/or increase taxation (which in turn can be helped by increasing employment), perhaps the electorate can witness a more honest debate going into the General Election that the duplicity being orchestrated from Number 10 currently
- John Bloomfield, Twickenham, 17/03/2010 08:19
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"the most ambitious plan of any advanced country"
"Ambition" - Even if this was genuinely his target, or ambition, Mr Brown is saying nothing here. It is my ambition to be wealthy and universally loved. Will it happen? I think not (sorry folks, beat you to it). Will the PM's ambition, real or otherwise happen? Again, I think not. And the Europeans know this as well as any non-socialist stooge or drone in the UK - and not a few socialists are aware of this too, it seems.
- Rogan, Irving, 17/03/2010 02:46
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Of course he does. He is delusional to the extent of insanity. He even thinks that people want him to continue when he gets beaten in the election. He thinks he is the only one to save the country yet seems to forget that it was him as Chancellor and now as PM that has brought the country to the brink of bankruptcy. UNBELIEVABLE !!!
- Duncan Walker, Ex Peckham Now Thailand, 17/03/2010 00:57
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Brown is being disingenuous here again.
He says that he will cut the defecit by 50% within 4 years so that means half of around £178 billion which comes to £89 billion. This means he has make cuts or raise taxes.
What he fails to mention is - this is only the deficit - not our total debt. This is conservatively estimated at £1 TRILLION!!!!!
This is quite deliberate of course because most of the electorate will equate debt with deficit and not realise that they are two quite different balances.
The man is a liar and a conman pure and simple. Every time he opens his mouth there is a downright lie or a manufactured smear on his Tory opponents.
Be very careful where you put your cross at the next election because if you think we are in a terrible position now, if Bloated Brown gets a mandate from the electorate, he will have carte blanche to complete the destruction of Great Britain and our long standing institutions and tradition.
Even his own party detest him as we have seen by the amount of times they have attempted to dethrone him since he usurped Blair in a blatant bloodless coup masterminded by the odious Watson, Whelan and McBride. Come the day of reckoning, surely we as a mature electorate will complete the job and eject Brown from office and into history as a total incompetent!
- Little Angussie, Inverallochy Aberdeenshire UK, 16/03/2010 23:57
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I thought for one glorious moment the headline said:
Brown rejects EU! If only it had - I just might have voted
for his despicable mob!!
- Lb, Bromley, 16/03/2010 23:00
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