George Osborne Quotes

Of course the Liberal Democrats are going to say things to try and get attention - but I don't think the country is paying much attention.

In opposition, you move to the centre. In government, you move the centre.

I've always thought that good politics follows from good economics and good policies.

I want Britain to be a global financial centre but I want it to be properly regulated.

When I was born, the Internet was barely two years old. It was the preserve of academics, used to connect dozens rather than billions of users. There weren't many who predicted it would transform our world.

Politics as a parent is fairly demanding; if your parent is in politics, it's fairly demanding, so I make no excuses about taking two weeks off.

Rather than standing back and being left behind, we must make the most of the opportunities that a growing China presents to us here in Britain.

We are absolutely going to have to provide fiscal security to people; in other words, we are going to have to show the country and the world that the country can live within its means.

I believe in public services.

We are not quitters. Britain has always gone out there; we have probably been more influential than any other country in shaping our world and the way it has thought about itself, the way we interact as nations.

I can't imagine a God who would ever need to intercede in the daily travails of my life.

I think you can look at the British economy with confidence.

I'm not one of those who thinks there is something inherently bad or inferior about watching television.

If we don't get a grip on government spending, there will be no growth.

I think its important, particularly when you've got young children, to spend some time with them.

Providing great schooling is the single most important thing we can do to help any child from a disadvantaged background succeed. It's also the single most important thing we can do to boost the long-term productivity of our economy.

I didn't come from a traditional Tory background; it was urban and metropolitan.

I think Britain can be one of the great success stories of the 21st century - we've got the talent, the drive, the connections around the world. But if we vote to Leave, then we lose control. We lose control of our economy, and if you lose control of your economy you lose control of everything. That's not a price worth paying.

I was shocked to see that some of the very wealthiest people in the country have organised their tax affairs, and to be fair it's within the tax laws, so that they were regularly paying virtually no income tax. And I don't think that's right.

Working people of this country want economic security. The worst possible thing you can do for those families is bust the public finances, have some welfare system this country can't afford.

I'm not going out to parties every night.

I understand the damage the expenses crisis has done to Parliament, and the paramount importance of restoring trust in our politics.

We have accepted there is a big role for government to create a framework where businesses can grow in all parts of the country.

It is not fair that people who are born in the UK to parents who are domiciled here, can later in life claim to be non-doms and live here, it is not fair that non-doms with residential property here in the UK can put it in an offshore company and avoid inheritance tax.

Britain is an open and tolerant country, and I will fight with everything I have to keep it so.

We need to think deeply about whether we can sustain banks that are not only too big to fail, but potentially too big to bail.

There are those who are trying to create an anti-business culture in Britain - and we have to stop them. At stake are not pay packages for a few but jobs and prosperity for the many. Everything in politics encourages more red tape - everyone insists government must step in - 'something must be done' is always the cry. We have to resist these pressures.

Just as we should never balance the budget on the backs of the poor, so it is an economic delusion to think you can balance it only on the wallets of the rich.

Margaret Thatcher's government redistributed money from rich to poor. And that's the nature of a modern western democracy.

Did I want Britain to remain in the E.U.? Yes. Did I fear the consequences if we quit? Yes. Did I argue passionately for that during the referendum? Absolutely I did.

Only the U.K. can trigger Article 50. And in my judgement, we should only do that when there is a clear view about what new arrangements we are seeking with our European neighbours.

Most successful politicians don't let the job swamp their lives.

I want to see families with lower energy bills.

Our message to China is very clear: we want the U.K. to be China's best partner in the West.

Of all the public services, education is the one I'm most interested in. You get a more dynamic economy, you deal with most social problems, and it's morally right.

Frankly, people buying a home to let should not be squeezing out families who can't afford a home to buy.

It's not enough to tackle just the symptoms of poverty. You have to tackle the causes of poverty.

Britain helped create the Internet - Tim Berners Lee created the World Wide Web, one of a long line of British scientists who have given us an outsized role in shaping our own digital future.

Britain has no divine right to be one of the richest countries in the world.

I came into politics partly because I want to be able to reduce taxes so that individuals have more of their money to spend, so that businesses have more of their money to create jobs, but I believe that lower taxes are sustainable when you get the public finances in order, so I will only make promises I can keep on taxation.

You know the illusion of the cheap money is over and now Britain has to go out there and graft and earn its way and create wealth and prosperity in a very competitive world.

Well look, no one takes pleasure from people making money out of the misery of others, but that is a function of capitalist markets.

It's perfectly reasonable in a coalition between two political parties that you get supporters of those parties you know stressing the things they want to stress.

I don't want to watch 'Newsnight.' I just don't understand those politicians who genuinely want to watch it for pleasure.

No other chancellor in the long history of the office has felt the need to pass a law in order to convince people he has the political will to implement his own Budget.

If someone believes that living on benefits is a lifestyle choice, then we need to make them think again.

I'm a very happy, content member of David Cameron's team. I fought very hard to get my friend elected as leader of the Conservative party, then elected as the prime minister of this country, and I'm very happy being part of that team that is bringing change to this country.

I want London to be the global sporting capital.

We must bring unity of spirit and purpose and condemn hatred and division wherever we see it.

The Conservative party is at its strongest when it's not the party that says there is no role for government and the state should just get out of the way. That is not a strand of Conservative thinking that, by itself, is enough.

Printing money is the last resort of desperate governments when all other policies have failed.

The Conservative party absolutely must not allow itself to be shut out of parts of the north of England.

Every day as Chancellor I see alerts telling me of risks around the world.

Tax cuts should be for life, not just for Christmas.

I do not want Britain to turn its back on Europe or the rest of the world.

To simply argue that public spending must always go up and never be cut is irresponsible.

In football, as in politics, resilience pays off.

I believe that I'm entitled to regard my pre-political life as off-limits in terms of what can be looked at and judged.

Tony Blair was a good politician but not a good Prime Minister, and that's what we don't want to be. We don't want to be just people who are good at winning elections: we want to be good at governing. I think we benefit from having seen the mistakes that we think Tony Blair made in 1997.

To all companies large and small, I would say this: the British economy is fundamentally strong; we are highly competitive, and we are open for business.

Our long-term economic plan is all about creating jobs and the economic security that comes with that.

If freedom of movement is to be sustainable, then our publics must see it as freedom to move to work, rather than freedom to choose the most generous benefits.

Well can I just say unlike my predecessors, Conservative and Labour, I have set up an independent body that studies whether what I'm saying is true, whether I've met the targets that I set out.

Autism is a very serious condition.

I think the best solution to this challenge, and I accept there is a challenge with homophobic bullying, is to make sure we get rid of the bullying rather than feeling we have to take kids out of our schools and teach then somewhere else. That would be the best approach.

Everyone in our society has had to make a contribution towards dealing with the debts.

Leaving the E.U. was not the outcome that I wanted or campaigned, but now that democracy has spoken, we must act on that result. I will fully respect that result.

Unless they have disabilities to cope with, no family should get more from living on benefits than the average family gets from going out to work. No more open-ended chequebook.

If the E.U. allows itself to be priced out of the world economy, the next generation will not get jobs, living standards will decline, and the Union will lose the popular consent of the people of Europe.

I've learned to be true to yourself, stick to the big arguments, don't get distracted by the everyday kerfuffle that is in the nature of any democratic system.

A generous basic state pension is the least a civilized society should offer those who have worked hard and saved through their whole lives.

I fought passionately to remain in the E.U., and I warned of the economic risks if we left the E.U.

Even as China's growth slows, it will continue to be a powerhouse for the global economy.

It was the Conservatives who first protected people in the mills.

They all said I was a very young guy. Well there is nothing I can do about that but with each day that passes the problem solves itself.

The British people think that if someone is disabled, then they should get all the care and support that we can offer.

One of London's massive strengths is its sporting prowess, its great football teams.

The former pension minister, the Liberal Democrat Steve Webb said I was trying to abolish the lump sum. Instead, we are going to keep the lump sum and abolish the Liberal Democrats.

The foundations of a strong economy don't rest alone on the decisions of Chancellors or the spending programmes of government.

Nuclear power is cost-competitive with other low-carbon technology and is a crucial part of our energy mix, along with new sources of power such as shale gas.

We are very supportive of the economic reforms that the Chinese government have talked about.

Believe me, I understand that most higher rate taxpayers are not the super-rich.

I serve at the discretion of the prime minister.

For families flying out of the U.K. for a winter getaway, airports should be the ideal place to pick up a bargain.

Our first benchmark is to cut the deficit more quickly to safeguard Britain's credit rating. I know that we are taking a political gamble to set this up as a measure of success. Protecting the credit rating will not be easy The pace of fiscal consolidation will be co-ordinated with monetary policy. And we will protect Britain's credit rating and international reputation.

You cannot tackle Britain's debts without tackling the unreformed welfare system.

We need strength and success elsewhere in our country - not by pulling London down but by building the rest of the country up.

It's in our interests that the euro is a successful, strong currency.

I have done everything I can to move Britain out of the financial danger zone.

People should know this of me: I will do what is required to keep our country safe and secure because, in the end, that is what people's livelihoods and jobs rely on.

If you want to change the way your banking system is regulated, if you want to learn the mistakes of what's gone wrong, then you have to change your government.

The wish to pass something on to your children is about the most basic, human and natural aspiration there is.

We should be doing more business with China. We should be better connected to the Chinese economy.

If we leave the European Union it's a risk to our economy - it's a risk to pensioners, it's a risk to homeowners, it's a risk to people in work.

The Internet has made us richer, freer, connected and informed in ways its founders could not have dreamt of. It has also become a vector of attack, espionage, crime and harm.

I had the closest thing I have ever had to an out-of-body experience lying in bed one morning. I turned on the 'Today' programme and item four on the news was: 'The shadow chancellor has ruled himself out of the leadership.' I lay there thinking that's interesting, then I realised it was me.

You really have to try hard to create space and, at least for a time, stop the political world from rushing in. The important thing is to remain sane.

What's important is that, come the general election, people think the right things of you. They think that you've got the right values and the right policies. And that you're the right kind of person to lead the country.

The Internet - central to modern life - provides new ways for our enemies to plan and act against us.

I want Britain to be the home of successful competitive and stable financial services.