December's pre-Budget report contained belt-tightening measures The government must act more quickly to cut Britain's huge budget deficit, a group of economists has said.In a letter to the Sunday Times, the 20 experts say the lack of a credible plan threatens to push up interest rates and undermine the recovery. Shadow chancellor George Osborne said Prime Minister Gordon Brown's "argument on the deficit had collapsed". But the Treasury has insisted it has already outlined a clear strategy for reducing borrowing. The letter was signed by an array of eminent academics and policy-makers including former members of the monetary policy committee and Sir Howard Davies, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England. Detailed strategyIt urges that borrowing had to be reduced more quickly than Chancellor Alistair Darling set out. Action to bring it down should start this year, mainly through cuts in spending rather than tax increases They urged whoever won the forthcoming general election to present a "detailed" strategy to wipe out the underlying, structural deficit within five years.[Read more...]