Southampton Itchen MP John Denham attacks government cuts

Shadow Business Secretary John Denham accused the Government of a ''reckless gamble''.

''My real worry is that we will see a lot of people lose their jobs, we won't have the ability to invest in private sector jobs, to grow the economy, that our public services will be needlessly damaged,'' he said.

''From everything that we have seen so far, the burden is going to fall on lower income and middle income families in this country, not a fair way of approaching the deficit.

''It is difficult to make hard and fast economic predictions but there is a huge risk here with the jobs and the livelihoods and the services of every family in the country, because they are being reckless about the way they are trying to cut the deficit.''