Darling: government policy 'sensible'
Updated on 08 September 2009
Chancellor Alistair Darling tells Jon Snow that the government policy to support the economy was "a sensible response to what is a difficult situation" despite increased government debt.
Mr Darling said the government was "handling matters sensibly".
"We are in a situation where we and other countries across the world have been supporting our economies because it would have been irresponsible not to have done so," he said.
"But quite clearly at a time when your tax revenues fall, but you maintain your spending for perfectly good reasons, that does mean that your borrowing goes up."
He insisted the government had plans in place to reduce the deficit, saying; "What I am talking about today is a sensible response to what is a difficult situation.
"It's not an entry into some sort of dark age or anything like that. It is simply a time when we are going to have to decide what our priorities are, recognising all the time that the enabling hand of government can make a difference between the prospects of individuals, the prospect of us as a country."
The chancellor said he believed we are coming out of recession, saying "If you look at the general outlook…there are reasons around the world to be more confident. Equally there are reasons to be cautious too, because we are some way off it."
"One of the biggest risks to recovery is to assume, as David Cameron seems to, that the job is done and that it would be alright for him to start wholesale cuts and so on," he said. "I think that would be the wrong approach.
"I think we need to support our economy just now, and then as recovery becomes established, then of course you have got to make sure you rebuild your fiscal strength."
He dismissed David Cameron's proposals to cut the cost of politics, saying "putting up the price of beer in the House of Commons doesn't add up to an economic policy, nor to a sensible fiscal policy."
"I'm very clear that government intervention has made a difference in our economy as a whole. I am equally clear that yes it is going to continue to be important that we support the economy, but obviously as things are tighter it is also important that we make sure that we live within our means.
"As we come up to the election, these are choices that have got to be made, but frankly they are choices and decisions that have got to be made by both main political parties and at the end of the day the public will decide."
