The world stands on the brink of a new economic crisis that would leave countries like Britain "staring down the barrel", David Cameron has warned. The Prime Minister said that the failure of leaders in the US and Europe to tackle government deficits now "threatens the stability of the world economy".
Mr Cameron spoke as stock markets around the world fell sharply again, with the FTSE-100 suffering its biggest drop for more than two years.
Politicians, central bankers and investors are increasingly worried that the world's biggest economies are sliding back into a recession, dragged down by government debts.
More gloomy economic data yesterday led one of the world's leading economists to say that Britain, the US and the eurozone are all already in recession, and warn of a second financial crisis worse than that of 2008/9.
The Prime Minister spoke in Canada after delivering a blunt warning to President Barack Obama and eurozone leaders about the need to follow Britain's example and curb their deficits.