George Osborne warns of further spending cuts in Budget

Chancellor George Osborne has warned he may have to make fresh cuts to public spending in next month’s Budget. Mr Osborne told the BBC global economic turmoil and slower growth meant “we may need to undertake further reductions”. He slowed the pace of cuts in the last spending review, but suggested savings could be announced […]

Chancellor George Osborne has warned he may have to make fresh cuts to public spending in next month’s Budget. Mr Osborne told the BBC global economic turmoil and slower growth meant “we may need to undertake further reductions”.
He slowed the pace of cuts in the last spending review, but suggested savings could be announced in his 16 March Budget statement as figures showed the UK economy was smaller than expected. Labour’s John McDonnell said it was “a total humiliation” for Mr Osborne.
Speaking exclusively to BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg during a visit to China, Mr Osborne said he would rather look for extra cuts now than risk breaking his own manifesto commitment to achieve a surplus in the budget by the end of this Parliament, in 2020.