Osborne to stick to austerity plans despite double-dip fears

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George Osborne has said the government will stick to its austerity plans, although he has had to revise down already-weak growth forecasts for the UK, prompting fresh double-dip fears.

The Chancellor said Britain's broken economic model means there can be no return to "business as usual" and signalled he will resist growing domestic and international pressure to boost activity by cutting taxes or slowing the pace of public spending cuts, the Guardian reports. G7 finance ministers and central bank governors are likely to call for fresh measures to stimulate growth when they meet this weekend following warnings this week from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank of the dangers of seeking to cut budget deficits too hard. But the Chancellor, speaking at a ...

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