Osborne says Western troops no solution for Syria

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The deployment of British or U.S. ground troops to Syria would not be a solution to the problem posed by Islamic State insurgents, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said on Monday.

Osborne, in a wide-ranging series of remarks to the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations in New York, also criticised the U.S. Congress for blocking reform of the International Monetary Fund and said progress was being made in negotiations on European Union political reform.

(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Writing by David Milliken; Editing by Mark Heinrich)