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Autumn Statement: Ed Balls says Osborne's targets 'in tatters' | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Chancellor George Osborne's promise to balance the nation's books in this parliament is "in tatters", shadow chancellor Ed Balls has said. | |
He said Mr Osborne is forecast to borrow £219bn more than planned, as he responded to the Autumn Statement. | |
"Every target missed, every test failed, every promise broken," he told MPs, and claimed that people were £1,600 a year worse off as a result. | |
George Osborne said he had steered the economy from crisis to stability. | |
He said Mr Balls had "no answers" to the economic challenges the country faces. "He has no credibility, no workable policies, because he has got not plan." | |
A future Labour government would take Britain back to square one, he told the Commons. | |
In his Autumn Statement, Mr Osborne said that although borrowing was set to be £91.3bn this year - above the forecast £87bn - the longer term outlook was rosy, with the UK "out of the red and into the black" by 2019/20. | |
Government borrowing is forecast to be £91.3bn this year, then £75.9bn, MPs were told. In March the forecast for this year was for borrowing of almost £87bn. | Government borrowing is forecast to be £91.3bn this year, then £75.9bn, MPs were told. In March the forecast for this year was for borrowing of almost £87bn. |
"The deficit is falling this year and every year," Mr Osborne said. | "The deficit is falling this year and every year," Mr Osborne said. |
'Every target missed' | |
However, responding to the chancellor's fiscal statement in the Commons, Mr Balls claimed the chancellor had not been straight about the figures. | |
Citing the latest economic statistics from the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, he told MPs that borrowing has been revised up by £4.9bn this year, and by £7.6bn in 2015. | |
"Over two years he's revised up borrowing by £12.5bn... this means the chancellor will have borrowed in this parliament £219bn more than he planned in 2010. | |
"It's all here in black and white," he said. | |
He said stagnating wages had squeezed living standards and led to a fall in tax receipts, with people on average £1,600 worse off. | |
"We all know he's changed the way he's styled his hair but he can't brush away the facts," he said. | |
Mr Balls added: "He promised to make people better off. Working people are worse off. He promised we were all in this together. When he cut taxes for millionaires... | |
"Every target missed, every test failed, every promise broken." | |
The shadow chancellor said Labour would deliver an economic recovery "for the many, not just a few", and balance the nation's finances in a fairer way. |