(RTTNews) - Conservative plans to start cutting the deficit this year risked pushing back the U.K. economy into a double-dip recession, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has warned.
In a podcast recorded at Downing Street on Saturday, Brown said securing the economy's recovery is the biggest issue facing the country at present and that the economy needed time to regain strength.
Shadow chancellor George Osborne revealed last week that the Tories planned to make GBP 6 billion of savings this year to reverse part of the Labour's planned increase in national insurance contributions.
But the prime minister warned that prematurely taking money out of the economy risked doing more damage to the fragile recovery.
Drawing a comparison with England soccer star Wayne Rooney's recent injury, Brown said: "I know everyone will be hoping he's fit for the World Cup but after an injury you need support to recover, you need support to get back to match fitness, you need support to get back your full strength and then go on to lift the World Cup.
"So with the economy - we're not back to full fitness, we need to maintain support," he said.
"If we try and jump off the treatment table as if nothing had happened we'll do more damage to the economy - and frankly that means we risk a double-dip recession.
"I think that's a risk we can't afford to take."
The Conservatives recently received backing for their savings proposals from 37 high-profile business leaders across the U.K.
But Brown said a "vast majority of business people" - including the CBI, IMF and the Institute for Fiscal Studies - agreed with him that it would be "wrong" to take money out of the economy this year.
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