Ed Balls accuses David Cameron of 'sleepwalking Britain to the exit door'

The launch in the US capital of the Commission on Inclusive Prosperity had been in the shadow Chancellor's diary for months.

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Labour showed that David Cameron did not enjoy a UK monopoly in Washington when Ed Balls launched a centre-left economic strategy backed by key allies of Barack Obama.

The launch in the US capital of the Commission on Inclusive Prosperity had been in the shadow Chancellor's diary for months. By chance, it came on the same day as Mr Cameron’s visit to the White House for a working dinner with the US President.

It followed an 18-month review co-chaired by Mr Balls and Larry Summers, the former US Treasury Secretary and Obama adviser.

During his visit, Mr Balls also met Janet Yellen, who chairs the Federal Reserve and Jack Lew, the current Treasury Secretary, and went to the White House for talks with the National Economic Council, which advises the President.

The report concludes that traditional right of centre economics will not turn the tide of wage stagnation and growing inequality. It argues that governments must avoid a cost-cutting "race to the bottom" by supporting more good jobs and higher wages and boosting skills.

Mr Balls said: "It sets out how we can reverse the toxic combination of too little growth and rising inequality which has hit many developed economies in recent years.

"Globalisation and rapid technological change have brought many benefits but… working people, especially those on low and middle incomes, are losing out."

The shadow Chancellor accused the Prime Minister of "sleepwalking" Britain to the exit door.

He said: "When I speak to people in Washington, they say: 'Why is David Cameron proposing to take such big risks with Britain's economic future?'"