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No plans for "Christmas tree" budget

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Chancellor Alistair Darling poses with a copy of the 2009 Budget report ahead of the Budget at 11 Downing Street April 21, 2009. REUTERS/Carl de Souza/Pool

Chancellor Alistair Darling poses with a copy of the 2009 Budget report ahead of the Budget at 11 Downing Street April 21, 2009.

Credit: Reuters/Carl de Souza/Pool

LONDON | Thu Mar 11, 2010 5:45pm GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - Chancellor Alistair Darling said on Thursday that he did not plan generous giveaways in his March 24 budget, and that plans to halve the budget deficit over four years were non-negotiable.

"I don't think anyone's expecting some sort of Christmas-tree-of-a-Budget. They're not going to get anything like that," Darling told the BBC.

"What you're going to get is a sensible Budget, a Budget for the times in which we live," he added.

Darling confirmed that he was committed to halving the record budget deficit over the next four years, and reiterated that cutting it faster -- as planned by the Conservatives -- "would run the risk ... of tipping us back into recession."

(Reporting by David Milliken)
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