Tories reveal budget plans for growth

THE BRITISH government, faced with fears that it will not get the economic expansion it needs, is to produce a “pro-growth” budget later this month, prime minister David Cameron and chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne have indicated.

In a speech to Conservatives, Mr Cameron said the March 23rd budget would be “the most pro-growth budget this country has seen for a generation”. It would provide for low-regulation enterprise zones in deprived areas and less bureaucracy.

Plans to return the UK’s current account back into the black during the lifetime of the parliament were dealt a blow by recent figures which showed the economy contracted in the last three months of 2010 and performed weakly in January.

Promising a new climate for entrepreneurs, Mr Cameron said: “Every regulator, every official, every bureaucrat in government has got to understand that we cannot afford to keep loading costs on to business. Because frankly they cannot take it anymore.”

He rejected criticism of his decision to lead a business delegation, including executives from major arms companies, to the Middle East last month as Egyptian protesters were on the streets.

“You know some people are disdainful about that. They see me loading up a plane with businesspeople and say, ‘That’s not statesmanship, that’s salesmanship’. I say, attack all you want,” he told the Conservative spring conference. “But do you think the Germans and the French and the Americans are all sitting at home waiting for business to fall into their lap? No, they’re out there selling their goods, and so should we,” he added.

Mr Osborne said his budget would “be unashamedly pro-growth, pro-enterprise and pro-aspiration” and confront “the bureaucracy and costs that hold business back”.