Britain's Treasury chief, George Osborne, has told British lawmakers that the economic recovery "will take longer and be harder than had been hoped." He also warned the global economy is facing its most dangerous time since the banking crisis of 2008, as he defended his country's tough austerity plan.

Osborne sought to assure lawmakers that Britain is prepared to deal with any new crisis in the European banking sector, and urged the Eurozone to consider issuing bonds jointly to help sort out its debt crisis. Britain is not part of the Eurozone, but its economy is hugely dependent on what goes on there, not least through its banking system. Osborne defended his plan to cut 80 billion pounds - or 130 billion dollars - from government spending through 2015, which will see public sector jobs lost and welfare programmes slashed.

George Osborne, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, said, "In these turbulent times for world markets we will continue to lead the international response, we will redouble our efforts to remove the obstacles to growth, and we will stick to our plan that has made Britain a safe haven in the global debt storm and I commend this statement to the house."