General Election 2010: Labour Party: Gordon Brown press conference

General Election 2010: Labour Party: Gordon Brown press conference; Alistair Darling speech continued SOT - Last week, some leading economists could not have been clearer, said spending cuts would derail our recovery, said first step is to make sure growth returns and thus tax receipts recover, rash action now could impreil not only jobs but also prospects for reducing deficit / Tories are wrong on the recovery and would push deficit higher not lower - This is not some abstract choice, cuts made in current climate when private sector demand is weak will have real, instant impact on jobs, Tories have said they would take 6bn pounds out of public spending this year.... We are already delivering 15bn pounds of savings this year / Tories have no credible plans to go further/ I agree with efficiency expert Grimstone, chairman of Standard Life who described Tory plans as 'just not credible' / Immediate Tory cuts would have real impact on public services, tories have said that some departments would be protected, like health and defence, but have refused to set out how remaining depts would be effected / We are setting out what impact of these cuts could be if they fell in proportion to each dept's level of spending, our analysis confirms what IFS have already said, the largest unprotected area would be schools - If we apply same approach to govt spending on schools...impact would be on teacher numbers ... Would lead to reduction of 14,000 teachers this year - 2,400 fewer police / Cuts to family benefits, Child Trust Funds would be removed from families with incomes a little over 16,000 pounds/ tax credits cut from families who are far from rich/ The priority now is to secure recovery but making right decisions now will lay ground for growth in years to come, I'm optimistic about Britain's economic future Am confident we will see return to strong growth next year/ The Item Club agreed / Cameron has shown himself to lack judgement so crucial in times like these...