The governor of the Bank of England has urged Gordon Brown to maintain a tight grip on government borrowing.

In a speech to the CBI in Manchester, Mervyn King highlighted the need to keep deficits down.

"It will clearly be important that the prudent approach to fiscal policy that has served the UK so well in recent years is continued, over the next cycle and beyond," he said.

He added: "For 20 years or more the G7, while lecturing each other and the rest of the world on the need for fiscal discipline, has continued to borrow more and more."

The latest figures for December's public finances are published today.