I’ve got the balls to take an axe to Britain’s benefits bill – we’ll be RUTHLESS with cuts if needed, vows Keir Starmer

SIR Keir Starmer insists he has “the balls” to take an axe to Britain’s bloated benefits bill.

After two weeks of market turbulence, economists and banks have doubted the Labour government's resolve to scale back public spending.

But the PM accused his critics of “overreacting to each and every single decimal point on a daily basis” rather than looking at the bigger picture.

Speaking in Ukraine, Sir Keir told The Sun: “We will be ruthless with cuts if that’s what’s necessary.”

And he doubled down on no more borrowing to fund runaway government costs, adding: “In the end the fiscal rules and our commitment to them is ironclad”.

Despite mounting criticism of Chancellor Rachel Reeves, the PM slapped down talk of changing direction on the economy, saying: “It’s about not chopping and changing and sticking to the decisions that were made, tough though they were and right though they were.”

Asked if he had the “stomach or the balls” to take on his squeamish MPs who have railed against benefits cuts for years, the PM insisted: “Yes. I love fights. I had to fight to get the leadership of the Labour Party, had to fight to win the election.”

And he compared the task ahead on welfare reform and reducing spending to ridding the Labour Party of Jeremy Corbyn and his hard-left supporters.

He said: “Five years ago people said ‘he wouldn’t be able to do it’ but I said ‘watch this space’.We had to change the party. We had to turn the country around.”

This week bankers JP Morgan warned UK policy credibility is "coming under pressure" but the PM insisted firms are still giving Britain the thumbs up, asking “What are the proof points of this?”

“Are global investors putting their money into the UK again? In the last few years that hasn’t happened. But we had record investments at our investment summit last year - £63billion invested - these are global investors choosing the UK.”

Throwing a protective arm around his Ms Reeves, who has faced calls to quit this week, the PM added: “Nobody pretended, nor should they, that you could fix 14 years of failure in six months.

And he insisted Labour have not made the economy worse since taking power with more than £40billion in tax rises and as well as further spending hikes, adding: “We’ve taken the difficult decisions in order to stabilise the economy.

“We took the decision to fix the £22 billion black hole, we took the decision we had to fix the NHS.”

He added: “I’ve always said it would take time. I don’t think that overreacting to each and every single decimal point on a daily basis is necessarily reflective… we know it’s going to be a long term journey.

“We never pretended this could be done in six months. It will take time. It’s about setting conditions, it's about stability, it’s about certainty.”