The government is to stay on the deficit-reducing course it has started on, buoyed by falling deficit and borrowing figures, the Chancellor has confirmed in his Autumn Statement for 2012.

Ruling out an alternative plan to tackling the nation's problems, George Osborne said that 'turning back now would be a disaster' and outlined that the government 'was on the side of those who work hard and want to get on.'

According to the latest numbers from the Office of Budget Responsibility the government has so far made a £33bn saving in interest debt payments and the deficit - the gap between government spending and tax receipts it receives - is forecast to fall every year until 1.6% in 2017/18, from the 7.9% it was last year.

The Chancellor said that new statistics showed that the UK's economic contraction of 2008/09 was deeper than previously thought at 6.3% - the largest since World War II.

Osborne said the country was on a 'hard road, but we're getting there and we are back on track' and the government would continue its austerity measures, with a mix of 20% of tax rises and 80% of cuts.