PM aide says sorry for comments on recession

A SENIOR adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron offered his "profound" apologies last night after claiming that the majority of British people have "never had it so good" since the recession.

Lord Young of Graffham was reported as saying that low interest rates meant home- owners were better off thanks to the "so-called recession" and said complaints about government spending cuts were coming from "people who think they have a right for the state to support them".

A spokesman for Mr Cameron said the Prime Minister was "very unimpressed" by the peer, whom he appointed as his enterprise adviser earlier this month.

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Mr Cameron "believes at this difficult time politicians need to be careful with their choice of words - these words are as offensive as they are inaccurate".

Lord Young last night wrote to the Prime Minister acknowledging that his comments were "inaccurate and insensitive" and offering his apologies.

In a newspaper interview Lord Young said the Bank of England's decision to set base rates at a record low of 0.5 per cent since March 2009 had left many home-owners up to 600 a month better off. He said swingeing government cuts, totalling more than 80 billion over four years, would only take state spending back to the levels of 2007, when people were not "short of money".

In a statement issued after details of his comments emerged, Lord Young said: "I am not a member of the government and played no part in the spending review.

"I deeply regret the comments I made and I entirely understand the offence they will cause.".