This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25256147
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Autumn Statement: George Osborne wants 'balanced' recovery | Autumn Statement: George Osborne wants 'balanced' recovery |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| George Osborne has hit back at fears the UK's economic recovery is based solely on a boom in consumer spending. | George Osborne has hit back at fears the UK's economic recovery is based solely on a boom in consumer spending. |
| The chancellor said exports and investment were also picking up - but there was still work to be done to create a more "balanced" economy. | The chancellor said exports and investment were also picking up - but there was still work to be done to create a more "balanced" economy. |
| He delivered an upbeat Autumn Statement on Thursday, claiming critics of his austerity plan had been proved wrong. | He delivered an upbeat Autumn Statement on Thursday, claiming critics of his austerity plan had been proved wrong. |
| But Labour accused him of complacency amid claims from a leading think tank that Britain is still in a "big hole". | |
| The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) will deliver its verdict later on Mr Osborne's plan to get Britain back in the black by 2018. | |
| Taken by surprise | |
| But IFS director Paul Johnson told the BBC: "We are still in a big hole. We are still borrowing a lot more than £100bn this year which is a lot more than the chancellor hoped back in 2010. | |
| "There is an awful lot of austerity still to come." | |
| The independent Office for Budget Responsibility - which produces forecasts for the government - has been taken by surprise by the speed at which the UK's recovery is growing after years of recession and stagnation. | |
| On Thursday, it said the economy would grow 1.4% this year - more than double the level expected at the time of the Budget in March - and 2.4% in 2014. | |
| It also revised down expectations for government borrowing by £73bn over the next five years. | |
| It noted that the higher-than-expected growth this year had been fuelled by consumer spending and rising house prices, rather than business investment and trade. | |
| But Mr Osborne said the OBR also expected "exports to pick up, investment to pick up, jobs to go on being created". | |
| "Now we have absolutely got to work hard to deliver that," he added, but warned against being too "gloomy" about Britain's prospects. | |
| 'Living standards' | |
| He was speaking on a visit to a JCB factory in the Midlands that is creating 2,500 new jobs. | |
| Labour has rejected Mr Osborne's claims of success, pointing to figures suggesting that working people were an average £1,700 a year worse off since the 2010 election because of prices rising faster than wages. | |
| "There has not been a Parliament in living memory where we have had a fall in living standards like this," shadow chancellor Ed Balls said on Thursday. | |
| He branded Mr Osborne an "out-of-touch Chancellor" who was "in denial" about the state of the economy. | |
| Key points from the Autumn Statement included: |