Osborne urged to drop debt target from Autumn Statement

Chancellor George Osborne should abandon his debt reduction target in his Autumn Statement, a leading think-tank has suggested.

Carl Emmerson, deputy director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), argues Osborne should set a lower target, given that it is unlikely the UK will achieve the government's goal of having national debt falling as a proportion of GDP by 2016, the Telegraph reports. He added the Chancellor should instead announce a consultation of a new target.  "Even at the time of the last Budget there was little more than a 50-50 chance that the Chancellor would meet this debt reduction target on current plans," said Emmerson. "Getting such a target right, and the timescale in which it shoul...