S&P puts UK's AAA rating on 'negative' watch

Standard & Poor's has become the third main credit rating agency to put the UK's AAA rating on "negative" watch.

Following in the footsteps of Moody's and Fitch, S&P said the top rating had been under threat for several months and will be downgraded in the next two years if "fiscal performance weakens beyond our current expectations". The agency said this would occur if there was "delayed and uneven" economic recovery. "We expect economic growth to rise slowly in the medium term, with net general government debt as a percentage of GDP continuing to rise in 2015, instead of stabilising in 2014 as previously expected." The UK is expected to have a budget deficit of 7% of GDP this year, well dow...