Conservatives are accused over budget cuts
David Cameron has been accused of going back on his promises to tackle Britain’s £178 billion budget deficit after he said there would be no “swingeing cuts” in the first year of a Tory government.
The Conservative leader insisted they would make “a start” on reducing the burden of borrowing this year, but Labour and the Liberal Demorats said he was backtracking on his promises of rapid action.
Cameron’s comments came as Gordon Brown used his weekly podcast on the Downing Street website to warn that the economy still needed support and that cutting too soon would risk it going back into recession, and Business Secretary Lord Mandelson launched an strong attack on the Tory leader, calling him ”unpatriotic” for “talking down” Britain by comparing our current situation to that of the stricken Greek economy.
Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman Vince Cable said the Conservatives had got themselves into a “terrible muddle”. He said:
“I understood until a day or so ago that the reason the Conservatives were different was that they were promising very rapid and severe cuts immediately. Now they seem to be retreating from that.”
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