George Osborne, chancellor, comments on his announcement that council tax will be frozen.

Osborne: We should spend spare money

Osborne: We should spend spare money

George Osborne, chancellor, comments on his announcement that council tax will be frozen for another year to the BBC.

"I think at times like this if we've got anything spare, we should spend it.

"We hoped the departments would spend around £350 billion, that's what we set out, and actually, half way through the year, we can see that, because we've got ahead of the curve on things like trying to eliminate waste and inefficiency, we do have some money to spare.

"We are doing what we can to support jobs, support enterprise, support infrastructure.

"We are a can do government that is intervening where we can.

"We are working flat-out, using every tool available to us. We are not standing on the sidelines."