Birmingham Post readers ask the questions as George Osborne visits
Shadow chancellor George Osborne visited the offices of the Birmingham Post today during a visit to the Second City - and took time to answer questions from Post readers.
Mr Osborne was shown around the new offices for the Birmingham Post at Fort Dunlop, after he had paid a visit to the nearby Jaguar plant.
After a brief interview with Head of Business Alun Thorne, he then took part in a live Question and Answer session from Post readers at our LiveBlog page.
Mr Osborne later gave a speech to Birmingham Chamber of Commerce at the Orange Studios in Cannon Street, where he said the financial crisis in the UK had created a "new imperative" to cut the cost of delivering public services.
At the same time, he said individuals and businesses who borrowed too much over the past decade had to face up to their responsibility for what had happened to the economy.
He signalled that he would be prepared to overhaul the corporate tax system in order to penalise companies which were over-dependent on debt.
In an apparent move to manage public expectations of what a Conservative government could deliver, Mr Osborne said the next administration would inherit "the worst public finances since the Second World War".
"Britain has got no option," he said. "We have got to bring the public finances under control. If the Government has lost the appetite to confront this truth, then the opposition has not."
It was no good, he said, simply trying to lay all the blame at the door of the banks.
"Our banking system is not separate from our economy, it is a reflection of it. Our banks hold a mirror up to the worst excesses of our society," he said. "And the unsustainable debts in our banks are a reflection of unsustainable debts in our households, our companies and our Government."
He also said that Britain needrf to change from an "economy built on debt" to one that is powered by savings and real returns on effort.
"The 'money for nothing' society has to end. The age of irresponsibility is over," he said. "The truth is that Britain is going to have to work hard and save hard to get out of this hole."
