We were at the stage where in a very short period of time, one of the world's biggest banks would have to shut the door and switch off the electricity.

The economic times we are facing... are arguably the worst they've been in 60 years. And I think it's going to be more profound and long-lasting than people thought.

Our goal is to make finance the servant, not the master, of the real economy.

The question is not whether Scotland can survive as a separate state. Of course it could.

Tory plans to cut 'further and faster' would wreck recovery and roll back Labour's many successes.

As I said, there are two approaches-first, a strong economy, stability and helping families or, secondly, the Tory cuts, the undermining of stability, and a return to the boom and bust of the 1990s.

On top of that, we have a healthy and stable economy and an end to the boom and bust that characterised the Tory years.