Osborne to stick to austerity plans despite double-dip fears

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 City dinner on Tuesday night, said the coalition has no intention of rethinking its tax and spending plans, and instead dropped a broad hint he expects the Bank of England to take action against growing recessionary pressures with a second round of QE, according to the Guardian.

Following a run of downbeat economic data, Osborne acknowledged he will have to cut his forecast for UK growth when he delivers his autumn statement to parliament on 29 November.

Recoveries from financial crises were slower and choppier than recoveries from other types of recession, Osborne said, adding: "While we have all had to revise down our short-term expectations over recent weeks, the only people who should be fundamentally re-examining their view of the world are those who thought that this time was different."