VOTERS face a choice between a hung parliament that would "paralyse’’ the economy and a Conservative majority, George Osborne said when he hit the campaign trail in Wales today.

The shadow chancellor visited the sprawling Corus steelworks in Port Talbot where he said the Tories needed an outright majority to get to grips with the "mess’’ created by Gordon Brown.

An inconclusive result on polling day would lead to a damaging round of "haggling’’ between politicians, he said.

Speaking as David Cameron prepared for the second leaders' debate of the election campaign, Mr Osborne said: "They (voters) want to see from David the kind of policies we need to get the Welsh economy moving again.

"But I think above all people need to understand that the real choice in this election is a Conservative government ready to lead the country or a hung parliament which is the oldest of old politics, lots of haggling, lots of jobs for the boys, lots of politicians arguing with themselves while the economy is paralysed.’’ As new figures showed annual public borrowing hit £152.8 billion, he said: "Today we have had record borrowing figures for a March and whoever wins the election will have to clear up Gordon Brown's mess, and that will be true even if by some miracle there was a Labour government as well as a Conservative government.’’ In interviews after touring the site, Mr Osborne repeated his pledge to protect the Assembly Government's budget from cuts under the Tories in this financial year, but made clear the devolved administrations would have to share the pain the following year.

"I respect the devolution settlement. I respect that the Welsh Assembly has got a budget,’’ he said.

"Of course next year they are going to have to make up the difference and we are all in this together.

"We have all got to sort out the mess that Gordon Brown created.’’ He said his party's commitment to halting a planned National Insurance rise had the support of Corus itself, which employs some 4,000 people in Port Talbot.

Corus chief executive Kirby Adams was among business people who signed a letter endorsing the Conservatives' stance on the issue early in the election campaign.

Mr Osborne attacked Labour for rising unemployment a day after it emerged that Wales's jobless total climbed 10,000 in the three months to February.

"Labour have had 13 years and we see the effects - higher unemployment in Wales than any other nation in the UK,’’ he said.