UK's AAA-rating 'not the be all and end all'

The UK's highly-prized AAA-credit rating should not be seen as the 'be all and end all' of government policy, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander has said.

The Liberal Democrat MP told the BBC's Today Programme that it was more important to tackle unemployment and support economic growth than focus on maintaining a rating from the agencies that many investors think will be lost later this year regardless. He said: "The credit rating is not the be all and end all. What matters is have we got the right policy mix for the country to get people back into work, to support economic growth, to deal with the huge problems in our public finances." The comments leave him at odds with Chancellor George Osborne, who has continually stressed the impo...