UK stripped of top credit rating
CHANCELLOR George Osborne suffered a fresh blow last night when financial analysts Fitch downgraded Britain's credit rating.
The firm lowered the country's status one notch from the top score of AAA to AA plus. Fitch said the ratings reduction "primarily reflects a weaker economic and fiscal outlook."
It was the second credit ratings reduction for the UK this year after Moody's, another agency, cut it to AA1 in February.
The move was expected by the City but was an embarrassment for Mr Osborne.
Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls said: "This is another humiliating blow to a Prime Minister and Chancellor who said keeping our AAA rating was the number one test of their credibility."
Official figures next week will show whether or not the UK avoided a return to recession in the first few months of the year.
Fitch pointed out that the UK still had an "extremely strong credit profile" but referred to "higher than previously projected budget deficits and debt", "weak growth" and the damage caused by the eurozone.
Mark Carney, set to take over as Bank of England governor in July, said that Britain was a "crisis economy" along with Japan and the eurozone.