U.K. vows to ‘redouble its efforts’ to tackle debt

A top U.K. official has answered a Moody’s downgrade of its AAA credit rating with a vow to double down on efforts to tackle debt.

Chancellor George Osborne made the claim Monday, saying that even though the ratings loss is due to slow growth from the global economy, the government must nevertheless “redouble its efforts” to trim expenditures, according to a BBC report.

The ratings downgrade, issued Friday, hits Mr. Osborne hard politically.

Mr. Osborne has been promising to maintain the U.K.’s AAA rating since 2010. The downgrade puts him in the crosshairs of those who say he’s a political liability to Prime Minister David Cameron, Reuters reported.

Moody’s predicted the U.K. would suffer slow growth and high debt until at least 2016, Reuters reported.