Gordon Brown rejects David Cameron's call for immediate cuts

Gordon Brown today warned that Tory calls for immediate spending cuts would be "the biggest mistake" as he insisted the government "must do nothing" that puts economic recovery at risk. The prime minister hit back after the Tory leader, David Cameron, accused the government of putting "naked political calculation" ahead of Britain's economic interest by failing to promise immediate public spending cuts. The two party leaders set out their stalls on the economy in back-to-back press conferences this morning. Cameron accused the government of "moral cowardice" for failing to take "early action" to tackle the £178bn budget deficit, warning that the UK was borrowing £6,000 a second. The prime minister used his address to the media to say he was "confident" the UK was emerging from recession, ahead of official figures tomorrow that are expected to confirm a return to growth. But he said there was international agreement that reducing spending too fast would put the "fragile" recovery at risk. Brown said: "I am confident that the UK economy is emerging from recession. But there are dangerous global forces … which mean that the world and the UK economy remain fragile. "Policymakers around the UK … must remain vigilant. That is why we are all agreed around the world that we must reduce our deficits steadily, according to a plan, but that we must do nothing this year which would put recovery, growth and jobs at risk." He went on: "Just as we were right to intervene to stop collapsing banks destroying the financial economy ... so it is right now we do what is necessary to lock in the economy for 2010. "The biggest mistake the world could make would be to turn at a time of stress to protectionism, the biggest mistake we in Britain and individual countries could make would be to withdraw now from the supportive actions we need for growth and jobs. " He later added: "Any party that is suggesting that we take huge cuts in our spending today is … putting the recovery at risk." Brown outlined plans to step up action against youth unemployment, a policy which he said was "in part" financed by the revenue on the bank bonus tax. This includes the Young Person's Guarantee , which will ensure every young person out of work for more than six months gets a job, training, or work experience. The prime minister said he wanted Britain to develop a highly skilled workforce "that is the envy of the world" in new industries and new technologies in the global economy over the next five years. "The coming election will be about those big challenges facing the country. The central choice will be who offers the best prospects for future jobs and family prosperity. The biggest employment push for young people the country has ever seen reflects our determination to avoid job less growth and achieve job rich growth. Our plans will expand the middle classes not squeeze them." Earlier in the morning, the government's approach to tackling the deficit was hammered by Cameron. The Tory leader insisted that the government was "not dealing" with the issue. If there is going to be a budget in March, the government needs to show that it is serious, said Cameron. "It is time they realised it is time to do the right thing," he told journalists. "Our recession, the great recession, is the longest and deepest since the war, and coming out of recession does not mean that our debt crisis is over. In fact far from it – Labour's debt crisis is now the biggest threat to our recovery so we will only get this recovery right if we start right now on a proper debt reduction plan." Britain was borrowing more than Greece, whose debt had already sparked the sort of economic crisis that could see soaring interest rates and unemployment if repeated here, he said. The government's promise to halve the deficit in four years has frankly "failed to convince", he said. "A key part of any plan is at least some early action to show you are serious in your intent. That means some reduction in public spending plans in this coming financial year. The government's approach, to coin a phrase, is to do nothing. "If we are going to have to wait for May for an election and if there is going to be a budget in March, they need to show how they are going to start now. "They are about to tell us that the economy is growing so they have no further excuse to delay action except naked political calculation." Pressed on whether Tory plans to cut spending by billions of pounds might jeopardise the economy's recovery, Cameron countered that it would be "riskier not to act". "We are going to have to borrow staggering amounts of money from the rest of the world … [and unless we show we're serious] they are going to demand higher interest rates from us to pay it back. Cameron said it was like having credit card debt. "The longer you leave it, the worse it gets."