Ed Balls accuses Osborne of economic complacency 5 December 2013 Last updated at 13:17 Ed Balls has accused George Osborne of "breathtaking complacency" over Britain's economic recovery. He said the chancellor was in "complete denial" about the "cost of living crisis" facing hardworking families. He said Mr Osborne had presided over the slowest economic recovery for more than a century, with rising bills and falling wages. Mr Balls claimed that people would be worse off in 2015 than when the government took office in 2010. For all his boasts and utterly breathtaking complacency the chancellor is in complete denial about the central fact which is defining this government in office. "That under this chancellor, under this prime minister, for most people in our country living standards aren't rising they are falling year on year on year," said Mr Balls. The shadow chancellor also claimed that Mr Balls was being forced to borrow more than Labour did as a result of three years of economic failure. Mr Balls struggled to be heard above the shouts of Conservative MPs as he rose to respond to the Autumn Statement - prompting the Speaker to intervene and call order. George Osborne declared in the statement that his economic plan is working, with growth up and borrowing less than expected. He said the country is set to be back in the black by 2018-19. Despite the good economic news, Mr Osborne told MPs that the job was not yet done as he warned against repeating "mistakes of the past." "We need to secure the economy for the long-term and the biggest risk to that comes from those who would abandon the plan," he said, in reference to the Labour opposition. The chancellor added: "We need a government that lives within its means in a country that pays its way in the world."