Was Ed Balls misleading the public on Newsnight last night? And a challenge for Ed Balls.

"By having the fastest cuts of any country in the world, he (George Oborne) is running a huge risk"

That's a claim that Ed Balls made during his Newsnight interview with Jeremy Paxman last night. Jeremy Paxman did not pick him up on this claim but I will.

First an explanation that cuts in UK government spending are not fast or huge:

'In 1999-2000, government spending was £343bn. Had this merely moved in line with inflation, total expenditure would have reached £450bn in cash terms by 2009-10. Yet actual spending in that year had jumped to £669bn, an entirely unaffordable 53 per cent increase in real terms. The spending plans outlined in George Osborne’s emergency budget reduce real terms outlays from £697bn this year to £671bn in 2015-16. Remarkably, spending in real terms then will still be much higher than it was in 2008-09.'

Secondly I have a challenge for Ed Balls: I presume that Ed Balls would not have made a misleading claim on last night's Newsnight and so will be able to prove the veracity of his claim by comparing planned spending cuts in the UK with those of the countries he compared the UK with - Greece, Ireland and Portugal - and also with Spain, Italy and the United States. so come on Ed, compare the planned spending cuts in the UK and those other six countries for the next year, two years, three years and beyond if you can. Then give me the figures. Do the figures back you up? If they do then I will admit that you were quite correct on last night's Newsnight and publish that fact on my blog. If they do not back up your claim, will you admit that you were wrong and go on Newsnight to admit that you were wrong? I am sure that Newnight would be only too happy to give you the airtime to make that admission.