Britain is facing a longer-than-expected battle to reduce its debts, Chancellor George Osborne is expected to tell MPs in his Autumn Statement.
Mr Osborne will say there is no "miracle cure" for Britain's economic woes - and the coalition will not duck its commitment to deficit reduction,
He is being tipped by the FT to freeze fuel duty and is expected to announce a spending squeeze to fund new schools.
Labour has called the government's economic policy "a terrible failure".
The chancellor will set out the state of the UK economy and his deficit-cutting programme from 12:30 GMT, in one of two big set piece speeches on the economy he makes each year.
He is expected to say: "In this Autumn Statement, we show that this coalition government is confronting the country's problems, instead of ducking them.
"The public know that there are no miracle cures. Just the hard work of dealing with our deficit and ensuring Britain wins the global race."
Spending squeezeMr Cameron wrote on his Twitter feed that the chancellor had now briefed the cabinet on his statement, adding: "We are on the right track and making progress."
What is the Autumn Statement?
- One of the two major statements the chancellor has to make to Parliament every year
- Since 1997 the main Budget - which contains the bulk of tax, benefit and duty changes - has been in the spring before the start of the tax year in April
- The second statement has tended to focus on updating forecasts for government finances
- Over the past few years this distinction has become blurred, with the Autumn Statement becoming more of a mini Budget
- Under the last Labour government it was called the pre-Budget report
The Office for Budget Responsibility is expected to downgrade its forecasts for growth in figures to be released alongside Mr Osborne's statement.
If the figures are as bad as many expect, the chancellor could be forced to abandon two key coalition targets: A five-year plan to eliminate the underlying deficit, which could be stretched to eight years, and his commitment to have Britain's debts falling as a share of GDP by 2015.
Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies told the BBC the apparent "permanence" of the UK's low growth was the real problem in terms of the public finances, rather than the chancellor's slipping time scale.
BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson said that, in contrast to the leaks ahead of March's budget, the details of the Autumn Statement have been successfully kept under wraps.
But Mr Osborne is being tipped by the Financial Times to freeze the 3p a litre fuel duty rise planned for January.
And The Times says the chancellor will introduce measures to force banks to hand over a higher proportion of their profits in tax - and to squeeze the international aid budget, while still meeting the UK's commitment to spend 0.7% of GDP on it.
Autumn Statement on the BBC
- Online: Full news and analysis, with live text from BBC experts and video stream
- On TV: Daily Politics special on BBC Two from 11:30-15:30. Rolling coverage on the BBC News Channel
- On radio: Live coverage on BBC Radio 5live. Reaction and analysis on You and Yours and the World at One on BBC Radio 4
Lib Dem President Tim Farron claimed his party had blocked Treasury plans to cut housing benefit for under 25s and limit welfare payments to families who have more than two children.
"I am fairly confident we have stopped all this. I don't think there will be a freeze on benefits as well," he told the BBC News channel.
The chancellor is expected to give more detail on plans to squeeze spending in most Whitehall departments and use the money to build new schools and transport schemes.
All but four departments will be asked to save an extra 1% next year and a further 2% the following year, with the £5bn saved to be spent on capital projects in an effort to kick start growth.
Mr Osborne is expected to detail how £1bn will go towards building 100 new free schools and academies, creating an additional 50,000 new school places.
"Start Quote
End QuoteGeorge Osborne will have to publish grim official forecasts with serious political and economic consequences"
The changes apply to England only, but will have knock-on effects in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland because of the funding formula used.
Labour claims low and middle-income families are being hit the hardest by the government's austerity measures and it wants more investment to promote growth.
Labour leader Ed Miliband said Mr Osborne's policies had been a "terrible failure" which were "bad for Britain... and I'm afraid what we're going to see is ordinary families paying the price of that".
He told the BBC: "What we need, and what we need George Osborne to admit, is if you've been trying an approach for two and a half years and it hasn't worked, you don't just keep ploughing on regardless."
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