Labour accuses Cameron of deceiving public over debt

Shadow Treasury minister Rachel Reeves said Mr Cameron misrepresented Britain's economic situation in a Tory Party political broadcast released on Wednesday night.

In the film Mr Cameron insisted: "Though this government has had to make some difficult decisions, we are making progress. We are paying down Britain's debts."

The PM's official spokesman rushed to defend the PM by claiming: "The Prime Minister is making the point that it is this government that has put in place a credible fiscal consolidation plan that has seen the deficit falling and debt as a percentage of GDP set to fall in 2016/17.

"The Prime Minister was being very clear about the policy and approach he is taking."

But Ms Reeves wrote to the UK Statistics Authority questioning whether he was entitled to make the claim.

In her letter to the watchdog's chairman Andrew Dilnot, Ms Reeves said: "As you will be aware, figures from the Office for National Statistics published this week show that the national debt is not being paid down, but is actually rising.

"Since this government came to office, public-sector net debt has risen from £811.3 billion in the second quarter of 2010, to £1,111.4bn at the end of December 2012.

"This is not the first time government ministers have made similar claims about the national debt. However, last night's party political broadcast is the first occasion I am aware of when the Prime Minister has much such a claim in a scripted broadcast.

"This suggests that the Conservative Party may be attempting to deliberately mislead the public about these statistics and the government's record."