Page last updated at 11:40 GMT, Wednesday, 25 April 2012 12:40 UK

PMQs: Miliband slams 'catastrophic' news on economy

Opposition leader Ed Miliband has blamed the government's "catastrophic" economic policy for pushing the UK back into recession and described Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt as a "political disaster".

At his weekly Commons question session on 25 April 2012, Prime Minister David Cameron defended Mr Hunt against allegations that his office had "colluded" with News Corporation's bid to take over BSkyB.

The PM said the culture secretary "has my full support for the excellent work he does", and predicted that he would "give a very good account" of his actions during negotiations on the ill-fated deal.

But the opposition leader said the prime minister's response "beggars belief" since Mr Hunt was not "judging the bid, he was helping the bid".

The "shadow of sleaze will hang over this government" so long as the culture secretary remained in his job, he added.

As the latest figures indicated that the the British economy had shrunk for the second quarter in a row, Mr Miliband also branded the PM and Chancellor George Osborne "complacent, arrogant, posh boys who just do not get it", echoing the words of Tory backbencher Nadine Dorries.

Despite all the "bluster", the government's economic plan had "failed" because it cut spending "too far and too fast", Mr Miliband asserted.

But Mr Cameron retorted: "We will not let anyone forget who got us into this mess in the first place.

"More spending, more borrowing, more debt - that is what caused these problems, it cannot be the solution to these problems."

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