Osborne Will Miss Labour U.K. Budget-Deficit Target

Britain’s Tory-led government, which set out in 2010 to implement tougher austerity plans than its Labour predecessor, would be set to break Labour’s own fiscal constraints had it not repealed the law after taking power.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2010, one of the final pieces of legislation passed by Gordon Brown’s government before it lost power, was intended to show that Labour was serious about deficit reduction. It required whoever was in power to cut the deficit as a percentage of gross domestic product in half by 2014 and ensure that debt was falling by 2016. Forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility this month showed the government on course to miss both targets.