Cameron: Summit backed deficit plan

David Cameron leads out the G20 leaders to pose for a 'family photo' in Toronto, Canada
12 April 2012

The Prime Minister has insisted that the G20 summit had been "unequivocal" in backing Britain's strategy of cutting the budget deficit.

Reporting back to MPs on the outcome of both the G8 and G20 gatherings of world leaders in Canada, David Cameron said they had agreed that the "speed and timing" of deficit reduction programmes would vary with national circumstances.

But he told the Commons: "The verdict of the G20 was unequivocal. For countries with large deficits, the time to act is now.

"Britain has one of the largest deficits in the G20 and the summit specifically welcomed plans set out in our Budget last week."

Acting Labour leader Harriet Harman poured scorn on the Prime Minister's claim, saying nothing in the G20's statement provided "any justification" for his decision to cut the deficit "further and faster" than Labour planned.

She said it called for "growth-friendly consolidation" and asked: "How is it 'growth friendly' to cut investment allowances for manufacturing firms, to scrap the regional development agencies, to cut back on investment in high-tech export-orientated British firms like Sheffield Forgemasters."

Ms Harman said the summits' conclusions amounted to "no more than an agreement to disagree". Her comments came after the final communique released at the end of the two-day summit in Toronto papered over cracks between the G20 states, accepting that different countries will pursue policies of continued fiscal stimulus or consolidation depending on their individual circumstances.

In a statement, Mr Cameron said: "The argument proposed by some that deficit reduction and growth are mutally exclusive is completely wrong."

The approach underlined by the IMF for the G20 was all about how the world should maximise growth by deficit reduction, tackling imbalances and structural reform.

"There was broad agreement on all three," he said. "The advanced G20 economies committed to at least halve current deficits by 2013 and stabilise government debt to GDP ratios by 2016."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in