The current global recession is "the most serious for over 100 years", cabinet minister Ed Balls has said.

Mr Balls, a former economic adviser to Gordon Brown, said it was "more extreme and more serious than that of the 1930s", the Yorkshire Post reported.

Shadow Treasury minister Phillip Hammond said the remarks were "staggering and very worrying".

You can watch the video here-http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7880393.stm

A spokesman for Mr Balls insisted that the prime minister and Chancellor Alistair Darling had highlighted the "unprecedented speed and ferocity" of the crisis "time and time again".

He said: "The unprecedented global nature of this crisis and its impact on the global financial sector is affecting every single economy in the world.

"The Bank of England agrees with this analysis. As the deputy governor of the Bank of England, Charlie Bean, said in October: 'This is a once in a lifetime crisis, and possibly the largest financial crisis of its kind in human history."'

He added the minister had been referring in his speech to the differences between Labour and the Conservatives on the economy.

Ed Balls is of course the schools secretary, his success to date has been less than inspiring, and maybe he should get a job as a consultant, to the banking industry.

And perhaps it’s time for a reshuffle.

“The most important political office is that of private citizen”. Louis G Brandeis

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NHS Behind the headlines

Angus Dei on all and sundry