Shortly before the 2010 election, Osborne had pledged to be "tougher than Thatcher" on Britain's budget deficit, and he duly set himself the target of reducing the UK's deficit to the point that, in the financial year 2015–16, total public debt would be falling as a proportion of GDP.
在2010年大选之前不久，奥斯本曾承诺要对英国的预算赤字进行“比撒切尔更强硬”的削减，他正确地设定了减少英国赤字的目标，以至于在2015-16年财政年度，公共债务总额将下降为GDP的一小部分。