Fund manager warns on UK triple-A credit rating

A leading British fund manager warned on Friday Britain risked losing a top credit rating without firm action to reduce its budget deficit. Standard & Poor's has said it could downgrade Britain's AAA credit rating over concerns about the credibility of government plans to tackle the deficit - set to top 12 percent of gross domestic product this year.
"I think there is a decent chance that we will be downgraded and certainly it's a near certainty if we don't, in the wake of the next election, properly deal with the deficit," Invesco Perpetual Head of Investment Neil Woodford said in an interview on Invesco's web site. "If we don't take the medicine, there will be a downgrade - it's inevitable. If we do, we have a chance of escaping a downgrade." Woodford said failing to act swiftly on the deficit would put pressure on sterling and "imperil the long term interests of the economy.