(MENAFN) In a major blow to UK finance minister George Osborne, ratings agency Moody's has downgraded the country of its triple-A rating, Reuters reported.
Moody's justified the downgrade by one notch to Aa1 with weak prospects for British economic growth.
Osborne has promised to defend UK's coveted triple-A rating since the Conservative-led coalition came to power in 2010, and has driven a number austerity measures.
However, the government's target of largely eliminating the budget deficit by 2015's elections has been delayed by at least two years due to a crawling recovery from the financial crisis. The opposition Labour Party blames the deficit on too much austerity.
The downgrade may raise concerns amongst members of his own party and his Liberal Democrat coalition partners about Osborne's policy ability to reduce the deficit and ensure a return to growth by the May 2015 election.
Moody's said the outlook on its rating on Britain was now stable, meaning any further change is unlikely for the next year or so.
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