Spending Review: Cuts will avert ‘economic ruin' - Osborne

The Comprehensive Spending Review is necessary to bring the UK economy "back from the brink", says Chancellor George Osborne.

Addressing the House of Commons today, Osborne said the UK has the largest budget deficit in Europe, and the previous Labour government had envisaged it would still be rising by 2014. Osborne is aiming to pay down the structural deficit completely by 2015-2016. He emphasises the need for dramatic public spending cuts, saying "to abandon the plans would be the road to economic ruin". "The action taken since May has taken the economy out of the financial danger zone," he adds. The government borrowed £154.6bn over the course of the last financial year, and total debt is expected t...