PBR 06: Shadow chancellor blasts Brown's speech

Tory shadow chancellor George Osborne blasted Gordon Brown's pre-budget speech, referring to him as 'the clunking fist' and saying he was a man 'so obcessed with securing his job that he failed to mention the 300 000 Britons who had lost theirs.'

Osborne slated Brown for speaking for over 37 minutes, during which time he entirely failed to address the NHS crises.

'And his relentless production of reports… 70! Never have so many poor trees died in vain,' Osborne continued.

Osborne accused Brown of having 'buried' the fact that he had downgraded his growth forecast for 2008, which would leave the UK with the largest structural deficit of any major European economy. He said that borrowing would be higher in every year than Brown forecast in this year's Budget.

'What this country needed was a report that prepares our economy for a future that is more competitive, more flexible, and more global than before, but that is not what we got today.

'With this pre-Budget report, like the nine pre-Budget reports before it, Britain is moving further from the direction we need to go,' said Osborne.