John Healey: “The government's plan for defense... falls well short of what is required for defence and the country at this dangerous…”

Despite conflicts in the Middle East and Europe hitting people across the world, today's figures offer more proof of Britain's resilience in the face of these global shocks.

People recognise these times that are tough for everyone, and what they do expect of a government is to manage with the budgets we've got, deliver the public services they need, and that's the challenge.

We will meet those fiscal rules, and I think one of the hallmarks of the IMF’s backing of our fiscal plans is recognition that there isn’t just a forecast for the future, but there’s some evidence of performance already.

It's really tough in the face of these economic global shocks