THE European Commission yesterday criticised the “absence of detailed departmental spending limits” in Chancellor Alastair Darling’s plans for curbing the Government’s budget deficit.

A report on the Treasury’s national economic programme said the “macroeconomic context” of Mr Darling’s calculations may be “distinctly less favourable” than envisaged.

The report, calling on the UK to try harder to get a massive 12.7% deficit down to below 3% by 2015, has already been seized on by Tories as evidence of the Government’s economic failings.

On Tuesday, Mr Darling was in Brussels insisting that the commission’s assessment was “wrong” and that the Treasury was tackling the deficit in a way which is “sustainable, manageable and which does not damage the social and economic fabric of our country”.

Yesterday, in the official publication of economic assessment reports on 14 EU countries, the Commission chided the majority for seriously breaching the maximum 3% of GDP deficit limit set for the single currency countries.

For non “eurozone” member states such as the UK, there are no possible Commission sanctions, but Brussels nevertheless requires regular reporting of economic forecasts and efforts.

EU finance ministers set deadlines last December for getting the deficit of 12.7% down to within 3% by fiscal year 2014-2015, but Treasury estimates have suggested a reduction to 4.7% by then.

The Commission said more aggressive tactics were needed with more “fiscal tightening” and warned that even this goal could be missed if economic growth turns out to be worse than the Treasury experts expect.

On the UK situation, the Commission said: “Since the start of the economic crisis, the combination of the operation of automatic stabilisers, falls in asset prices and fiscal stimulus has provoked a considerable deterioration in UK public finances, with the general government deficit reaching 12.7% of GDP in the financial year 2009-10.

“The fiscal strategy outlined in the UK’s convergence programme does not foresee the correction of the excessive deficit by 2014-15 as recommended by the council (of EU finance ministers) on December 2, 2009.”

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