Osborne resists pressure to weaken austerity measures ahead of budget

Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer has resisted pressure to change course over his austerity plans as he warned there were “no easy answers” to the UK’s economic woes.

George Osborne insisted that failing to tackle the country’s debt and deficit problems could leave the UK on the brink of a crisis like that in Cyprus.

He said tomorrow’s budget would contain measures to “help those who aspire to work hard and get on” but would also set out the scale of further curbs on public spending from 2015.