Cameron warns of years of painful cuts

British new prime minister David Cameron said on Sunday that the country faced years of painful cuts as the economy was in far worse state than previously thought, and cuts would focus on welfare payments, public sector jobs and public sector pay.

Cameron came to power less than a month ago by forming a coalition between his Conservative party and the third force in British politics, the Liberal Democrats.

The principal task his coalition government has identified is tackling the record public sector deficit of 156 billion pounds ($240 billion).

One of the major differences between the economic policies of the former Labor government and the new coalition government was the speed at which the deficit should be tackled, with Labor urging caution for fear of damaging the emerging economic recovery.

Cameron underlined the coalition view, in an interview with the Sunday Times national newspaper, saying: “There is a huge amount of debt that has got to be dealt with. Crossing our fingers, waiting for growth and hoping it will go away is simply not an answer.”

His right-hand man, chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne, is set to deliver an emergency budget on June 22 which will outline the level of cuts that will be made in public spending next year.

Xinhua