Top Cameron adviser quits in recession claims storm

David CAMERON'S enterprise adviser resigned yesterday after coming under fire for claiming that most people have "never had it so good".

Lord Young decided yesterday he could not remain in his post after reflecting overnight on his comments and the furious reaction they had provoked.

He had told the Daily Telegraph that low interest rates meant home owners were actually better off thanks to the "so-called recession" and dismissed the 100,000 job cuts expected each year in the public sector as being "within the margin of error" in the context of a 30 million-strong workforce.

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And he said complaints about spending cuts came from "people who think they have a right for the state to support them".

The 78-year-old former Trade and Industry Secretary in Margaret Thatcher's government also said people would look back on the recession and "wonder what all the fuss was about".

The Prime Minister initially seemed determined to hang on to his adviser, despite Downing Street branding his remarks "offensive" and "inaccurate", but as the clamour continued his resignation was announced yesterday afternoon. Unusually, Downing Street did not issue any letter from the Prime Minister thanking him for his work – which has included a high-profile review of Britain's health and safety culture.

Labour leader Ed Miliband said: "Lord Young is right to go. I think his remarks are frankly disgraceful and many of the people who are struggling up and down this country with the consequences of the recession that we had, the consequences of the spending cuts that we are seeing, will be insulted by his comments."

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But the director general of the Institute of Economic Affairs, Mark Littlewood, speaking before the resignation, said: "He is, in many respects, right. In 2015, this Government will still be spending more than when it came to power."