Alistair Darling on George Osborne's cuts 'problem'

Chancellor George Osborne has a "cuts problem", according to shadow chancellor Alistair Darling.

The coalition government is being "defined" by its public spending cuts programme, he said.

The former chancellor was responding to Mr Osborne's speech to The City on Tuesday afternoon, in which he outlined the progress of his economic policy after almost 100 days in office.

However, Mr Darling is expected to admit that the Labour government failed to address fears about the public deficit in a lecture at the Edinburgh Book Festival on Tuesday evening.