Chancellor George Osborne reiterated his belief in his Plan A for austerity at the Conservative Party conference, saying that it is going to continue for longer than was originally planned.

Taking part in a debate in the House of Lords with the economist Bridget Rosewell, the Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman described the policy of austerity as "mad".

Economics editor Stephanie Flanders explained to Today presenter James Naughtie that this was a reminder that the alternative - the anti-austerity campaigners - have a big advantage because they are comparing "a rotten reality" of the present situation with "what sounds like an inherently better alternative".

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