Darling: 'A path to recovery'
Updated on 23 April 2009
Chancellor Alistair Darling explains how he intends to achieve the spending cuts announced in the 2009 budget.
The chancellor said the measures laid out in yesterday's speech offered "a path which I believe will lead to a sustainable recovery".
"Obviously, if the economy does better and there is more money coming in, that to some extent determines how much you are able to spend."
He was at pains to stress that the current downturn is an international phenomenon and not just confined to the United Kingdom
"What's the big uncertainty at the moment? Well, frankly, I think it is what is happening internationally... We're the sixth biggest exporter of goods. It actually matters to us how other economies are doing."
And on yesterday's announcement of a 5 per cent hike in income tax for those earning £150,000 or more, the chancellor explained: "It is fair to say to people at the top of the tree... you need to make an additional contribution."
"We have a situation where our borrowing and debt levels are necessarily high at the moment because of what has happened."
