Economy

Mark Carney's comments will not be welcomed in Germany, where there are fears that taxing one part of the Eurozone to pay for another could leave them footing the bill.

ITV News Economics Editor Richard Edgar on the Governor of the Bank of England's comments:

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney praised the European Central Bank for the "boldness" of its plan announced last week to buy hundreds of billions of euros of government bonds to fight the "potentially dangerous" combination of weak growth and falling prices.

But he criticised the eurozone for failing to act on other reforms, including making the single currency area more like the United States, where states cushion one another against economic shocks via federal government transfers.

"It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that, if the eurozone were a country, fiscal policy would be substantially more supportive," he said in a speech in Dublin.

The Governor of the Bank of England launched a broadside against eurozone austerity policies, warning that it was caught in 'a debt trap'.

Mark Carney's comments come as Greece's new Prime Minister confirmed he will be fighting the tight austerity policies placed on the country by the EU.

Chancellor George Osborne refused to say whether he would implement policies to tackle inequality, such as raising taxes on the wealthy, in the next Budget.

In an interview with Business Editor Joel Hills, he admitted that growth had not been entirely balanced, but insisted the gap between rich and poor was getting narrower:

Mr Osborne also said Britain needed a "clear economic plan" due to uncertainties on the international stage.

He mentioned the ongoing issues in the Eurozone and Greece, downgrading of Russian bonds and the dropping price of oil as examples.

Labour Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls said George Osborne has broken his promise to "balance the books".

He said Tory claims that the economy is fixed will "ring hollow with working people who are still not feeling the recovery".

"Wages are down by £1600 a year since 2010 and now these figures show a concerning slowdown in economic growth too, Mr Balls said.

“Construction is down again, business investment under this government is lagging behind our competitors and exports are way off target.

"And the stagnating wages we have seen over the last five years are the reason why the Chancellor has broken his promise to balance the books."

Chancellor George Osborne said the latest GDP figures confirmed the British economy grew by 2.6% last year.

But he said with the international climate worsening, the UK Government needed to go on working through their economic plan to ensure Britain did not slide back into economic chaos.

His comments come after the latest GDP figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the British economy grew by 0.5% in the final quarter of last year.

Chancellor George Osborne welcomed the GDP figures and said they showed the economic recovery was "on track".

The UK economy grew by 0.5% during the final quarter of 2014, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said today.