Brown has to be straight with people about al-Megrahi

David Cameron has criticised Gordon Brown’s belated response to the release of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi

Cameron criticised the Prime Minister's claim that there was no "double dealing".

"We learnt this morning from the Foreign Secretary that a Government minister told the Libyans that the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary did not want Mr. Megrahi to die in a Scottish jail. But at the same time we know the Government was giving assurances to the United States that Mr. Megrahi would spend his full sentence in a Scottish prison".

He added that almost as serious as this was the double dealing with the British public, where "on the one hand Gordon Brown has completely refused to give his opinion on the release of this mass murderer but on the other hand was content for the Libyans to be told that he shouldn’t die in prison".

Cameron concluded by calling on the Prime Minister to "answer the questions that need to be answered" and to "set up an inquiry so we can sort out this mess once and for all".

Osborne stresses the need to talk honestly about cuts

George Osborne has accused Gordon Brown of “plain dishonesty” for trying to pretend that there won't be any spending cuts.

The Shadow Chancellor said it was "ridiculous" for Mr. Brown to claim that his plans to cut real spending on public services equate to ‘more Labour investment’ - and he told the Prime Minister to “tell the public the truth instead of treating them like fools”.

In an article in the Times, George stressed the “real dividing line” in British politics is “not ‘cut versus investment’, but honesty versus dishonesty”:

“Gordon Brown's claim that real spending will rise under Labour is akin to his claim that the 10p tax rise didn't hit the poor and that Alistair Darling is his first choice as Chancellor - it is just not true.”

George admitted that the Conservatives had initially “fought shy of using the ‘c’ word – cuts”, but stressed it was time to “talk honestly to the public about the spending decisions that need to be taken”:

“We should have the confidence to tell the public the truth that Britain faces a debt crisis; that existing plans show that real spending will have to be cut, whoever is elected; and that the bills of rising unemployment and the huge interest costs of a soaring national debt mean that many government departments will face budget cuts.”

Bank of England report is "further blow" to Chancellor's credibility

George Osborne has described the Bank of England's latest quarterly inflation report as a "further blow to the credibility of the Chancellor and the honesty of the Budget."

The report predicts a "slow and protracted" economic recovery - and George stressed that this supports the Conservative position on Alistair Darling's Budget predictions.

"From the moment the Budget was announced, we Conservatives have questioned the Government's forecast that there will be a rapid return to boom time levels of growth."

George warned that the model of economic growth is "fundamentally broken" - and he stressed, "We cannot have a sustainable recovery until we have a Government that understands that."