Osborne Keeps Austerity as Investors Discount Downgrade: Economy

U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne won’t bow to opposition calls to change economic plans after the decision by Moody’s Investors Service to strip the U.K. of its Aaa status.

Osborne said in an article for the Sun newspaper yesterday that the government should “stick to its course” to reduce Britain’s debt. The opposition Labour Party called on him to switch his emphasis from deficit reduction to growth, following what it called Moody’s “humiliating” decision. Labour Treasury spokesman Ed Balls will question the chancellor on the downgrade in Parliament in London today.