Press Association
Sunday 12th February 2012
Alistair Darling has made clear that next week's Budget will not spell out any new spending cuts.
The Chancellor said the package on March 24 would instead focus on measures to encourage economic growth.
He also delivered a bullish assessment of the prospects for UK plc - suggesting lower-than expected unemployment could give him more room for manoeuvre.
The comments will fuel criticism that the government is trying to dodge setting out exactly how they plan to halve the country's record £178 billion deficit over the next four years.
Interviewed on Sky News' Sunday Live programme, Mr Darling admitted that the Budget would be "critical" in deciding the result of the general election.
"Of course it is important because the economy and the decisions we take that will affect the next five, 10, 20 years are pretty critical to the big decision, the big choice the country will make whenever the election is called," he said. "Crucially we have got to plan now to ensure we get growth for the future because growth is what brings jobs, jobs is what will bring rising living standards."
Asked if he would give details of spending cuts, Mr Darling said: "I will carry on spelling out what we have done, and the progress that we are making both on supporting the economy and reducing our borrowing levels, the deficit levels, that is important.
"But I have always said that because of the uncertainty we have seen over the last 18 months it would have made no sense to have been doing a (comprehensive) spending review at that stage. We won't do one before the election, but of course one has got to be done this year because our current spending runs out at the end of March 2011."
Mr Darling refused to give a guarantee that there would be no tax rises beyond the previously-announced hikes in national insurance and for top earners - despite Treasury Chief Secretary Liam Byrne seeming to make such a commitment last week.
"No Chancellor is ever going to say they are never going to change the tax system over the next five to 10 years or whatever," he said.
