Budget 2010: EU calls for faster UK deficit cuts

mystic_trev

The government's plans for reducing the budget deficit are not ambitious enough - according to a European Commission report to be published on Wednesday.
The report warns that the UK is not on course to cut its deficit in line with EU rules by a deadline of 2015.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8569418.stm

Oh dear!

Really2

I suppose this is the EU telling Labour to show their policies on how they are going to do it.
Perhaps the Tory lead may be back again soon.:)

tomterm8

It's irrelevant anyway there's nowt they can do about it.

amcluesent

>The government's plans for reducing the budget deficit are not ambitious enough - according to a European Commission report<

Fine. Two easy solutions -

1) We stop paying ££ billions and billions to feather-bed French peasant farmers
2) We properly close our borders to the hordes of illegals massing on the French coast

baileysbattlebus

mystic_trev wrote: »

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8569418.stm

Oh dear!

From the article:

The report warns that the UK is not on course to cut its deficit in line with EU rules by a deadline of 2015.

EU rules say government deficits must be below 3% of GDP, but the UK's deficit is expected to hit £178bn - or 12.6% of GDP - this year.

Interesting - but surely as a non Euro zone member the UK hasn't actually breached anything, or broken any rules. What ever you think of the deficit and the plans by the various parties to reduce it, the 3% deficit to GDP isn't applicable to us.

CLAPTON

presumably a cunning ploy to boost Labour's rating in the polls (think about it)

mystic_trev

More here

Sterling plunged back below $1.50 today after the European Commission warned the British Government that it was not doing enough to curb the country's spiralling debt.

The pound tumbled against the dollar $1.5056 to $1.4975, close to a nine-month low reached two weeks ago, in response to the leaked document which has emerged just before the Budget on March 24.

The draft assessment of Britain's budget deficit cut plans - made because the UK has breached EU stability rules - stated: "The fiscal strategy in the convergence programme is not sufficiently ambitious and needs to be significantly reinforced.

"A credible timeframe for restoring public finances to a sustainable position requires additional fiscal tightening measures beyond those currently planned.”

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article7063550.ece

Really2

mystic_trev wrote: »

More here



http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article7063550.ece

I think the plunge they talked about was putting a toe in for a second.

cogito

The European Commission report is rubbish. Gordon Brown says everything will be OK and he has bever been wrong about anything. And he saved the world.

Generali

baileysbattlebus wrote: »

Interesting - but surely as a non Euro zone member the UK hasn't actually breached anything, or broken any rules. What ever you think of the deficit and the plans by the various parties to reduce it, the 3% deficit to GDP isn't applicable to us.

AIUI, having signed the Treaty of Rome and the Maastricht Treaty the UK Government is committed to joining the Euro at some unspecified date in the future. As such the stability pact still applies.

Of course it didn't apply to the Germans a few years back when they breached it but IIRC it almost applied to Portugal a while ago.

Pete111

cogito wrote: »

The European Commission report is rubbish. Gordon Brown says everything will be OK and he has bever been wrong about anything. And he saved the world.

+1

He's the most awesomesest Prime minister ever. Everyone knows it was the previous chancellor who got us into this mess anyway.