Economy frustration for Cameron
Tory leader David Cameron has told the Prime Minister to "get with the programme" and admit that Government plans for tackling the recession were not working.
Mr Cameron said he sometimes felt like "shaking" Gordon Brown and saying: "Look, what don't you get - it's a credit crunch, that's what needs to be addressed."
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the Government's plan to cut VAT by 2.5% had been a "waste of time".
The "real problem" in Britain was a "massive credit crunch" that meant businesses of all sizes were unable to get any money out of the banks, Mr Cameron said.
Mr Cameron said the Tories' proposals for a National Loan Guarantee Scheme would guarantee £50 billion of loans for small, medium and large businesses.
Mr Cameron said he would set out plans on how his party would help victims of the recession.
The Tories needed to come off the Government's spending plans because the "world has changed", he said.
Mr Cameron said it was "terrifying" that the Government would be borrowing £118 billion next year.
Asked whether the Tories would continue to borrow most of the £118 billion if they were in power, Mr Cameron said: "If you're saying we're in a very deep hole and whoever runs the Government after the next election is going to have a very tough time with very big budget deficits, the answer to that has to be yes. But let's be clear, we would be £12.5 billion better off because we wouldn't have done the VAT cut."
The VAT cut was a "complete joke" when faced with massive sales in the shops over Christmas, he added.
