'No state immune from economic crisis'

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/192701.html

Foreign Secretary William Hague has claimed that coalition government is “fully functioning” and that Britain is not in the firing line of world's economic crisis.

Hague, Britain's most senior minister as Prime Minister David Cameron and his Deputy Nick Clegg are on holiday abroad, said that Britain has begun continuing discussions with the US and European governments over the mounting debt crisis in Europe.

Stressing that the British government is completely on top of developments, Hague urged the European countries, including Spain and Italy, to show their objective to bring their deficits under control to assure the financial markets.

"No country is immune from these problems, clearly there are global financial market problems. But we in Britain are not in the firing line of these problems because of the difficult decisions we have taken over the last year to bring spending under control, to bring down borrowing, to control debt," Hague said.

Following the economic turmoil in the global markets, British critics have raised their concerns over the absence of the country's top figures. They are now wondering to know why Prime Minister David Cameron has not yet returned from his summer holiday in Tuscany.

Responding to the critics' rising concerns, Hague said: "It is already slightly exaggerated this idea that there's no hand on the tiller. The Prime Minister, the Chancellor - they are all being kept closely appraised of what is going on.

"At the same time, it does feel slightly surreal in Westminster at the moment because we have got things falling around our ears and obviously all those top figures are not there.”

He added that the government's meetings are now taking place on the phone rather than in Downing Street or in Whitehall.

"The Government is always operating 24 hours a day. We are not in the 18th century. Everyone is constantly in touch," he added.