Easington MP Grahame Morris has called for the Chancellor to step aside after the loss of Britain’s triple A credit rating.
The Chancellor was summoned to Parliament yesterday to answer urgent questions about Britain’s credit rating downgrade by ratings agency Moody’s. The downgrade was the first since modern national debt rating began in 1978.
The Chancellor staked his economic credibility on maintaining Britain’s credit rating. In the 2010 Conservative Party General Election Manifesto – Benchmarks for Britain – safeguarding Britain’s credit rating was the number one priority.
In 2009, as Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, said it would be “humiliating” for Britain to lose its international credit rating.
In addition to the credit rating downgrade, the Independent Office for Budget Responsibility show the government is likely to borrow at least £200bn more than it planned by the end of the parliament despite its tax rises and spending cuts.
Speaking after yesterday’s urgent questions to the Chancellor, Mr Morris said:
“The Chancellor is in denial if he thinks the economy is on the road to recovery, and that the policies of austerity are working. We are just weeks away from some of the cruellest and most damaging cuts with the introduction of the bedroom tax, and cuts to benefits for working families.
Despite all the pain, the economy is not growing, unemployment is rising, and the Government are going to spend £200 billion more than it planned.
The Chancellor has failed his own economic test. The credit rating downgrade shows that austerity isn’t working and according to George Osborne it is “humiliating”. No one has any confidence in the downgrade chancellor, who has delivered nothing but misery for millions of families.
The Prime Minister must act to restore the Government’s economic credibility, which will never happen while the Chancellor continues to ignore the economic consequences of austerity”
Grahame Morris MP
