Britain heading deeper into debt

GORDON BROWN’S budget plans came in for criticism on two fronts yesterday as the IMF joined Brussels in giving warning that weakening growth will send Britain’s finances billions deeper into the red than he has forecast.

In a double blow to the credibility of the Chancellor’s tax and spending plans, the International Monetary Fund threw its weight behind warnings from the European Commission that government borrowing will remain above 3 per cent of national income up to 2006-07.

As the Commission left Mr Brown chastened with a formal rebuke for breaching the EU’s 3 per cent of GDP cap on state borrowing in the last two financial years, it joined the IMF in predicting that the Chancellor will have to borrow billions more than he has forecast into 2007.

In a further embarrassment for Mr Brown, who flies to Washington today for the IMF’s annual meetings, its latest projections also showed that he is on course to breach his self-imposed rule limiting Britain’s total national debt to 40 per cent of GDP. The IMF expects the national debt to hit 40.2 per cent next year, and 43.9 per cent in 2010.

George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, said Mr Brown’s reputation had been further damaged.

“The IMF have lowered their growth forecast still further,” he said. “They have shown that Britain has a structural fiscal deficit that has grown faster than any other major economy since 2000. And they think the UK will have to tighten fiscal policy in the next year; the last thing we should be doing in a slowdown.”

So this country is going further and further into debt. How wonderful for us. This country just gets worse and worse.

Gordon Brown wants to be Prime minister after Blair but if he can't even keep Britain's finances in check how is he hoping to run the country which is far more responsibility than what we have now?

This government is just to incompetant. We need to get them out now and not later. Our fiscal deficit has grown faster than any other major economy.

Labour's election tune when they were elected was "Things can only get better". Better for whom? It should have been "Things can only get worse" as everything have only got worse since the Labour got into power.