EU attacks UK's 'optimistic' economic outlook

EU rules mandate government deficits should be kept below 3% of GDP, but the UK's deficit is expected to hit 12.6% of GDP this year. The report also warned the UK was not on course to cut its deficit by the 2015 deadline. However. the UK Chancellor Alistair Darling has defended the Government's approach to the ballooning deficit, arguing reducing public sector spending too quickly would risk harming the UK's emergence from recession. Germany, France, Spain and Italy also came in for criticism, with warnings they were over-reliant on economic recovery to meet debt targets. Spain was...