John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor responding to George Osborne’s speech today in Cardiff warning of a “cocktail of threats” facing the economy, said:

“This Chancellor has mixed his own cocktail of rising consumer debt, an over reliance on borrowing from overseas, with a lack of sustained investment, while failing to support manufacturing, and topping it all off with lighter regulations for the banks. The problem is that the rest of us taxpayers will be the ones left with the hangover.

"Labour has consistently warned that George Osborne has to wake up and stop being complacent about the warning signs that the global economy could be slowing, but instead he has chosen to play political games with fiscal targets that would simply tie his hands.

"We all know that the Tories have given up on an export-led recovery with manufacturing in a downturn and a trade deficit at worrying levels. Instead this Chancellor has delivered a fragile, unbalanced recovery built on sand due to his austerity policies and he is now trying to get his excuses in early.

"But just as the flooding over Christmas exposed that his cuts are hurting not helping, this speech today only tells the public what they already know - George Osborne has warnings but no solutions.”