Brown outlines British vision

Wednesday, 1 December 2004 12:00 AM

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has said he will outline a "patriotic vision" of Britain's future in the forthcoming Pre-Budget Report.

The report on Thursday is being interpreted as a mini manifesto on what Labour aims to deliver in an historic third term of office.

Gordon Brown told an audience at the Political Studies Association awards ceremony at the Institute of Directors in London last night that he wanted to make the next 10 years the "British decade".

He said Britain's "success and destiny" was dependent on economic and political stability, openness to the world, scientific creativity and world class universities.

Britain in the future needed to be outward looking, internationalist and Pro-European, he added.

Concluding, he said; "at the heart of the Pre-Budget Report is a patriotic vision of Britain's future as a country of ambition and aspiration - how we make Britain the best place to grow up in, the best place to study, the best place to start a business and to work - as we build a Britain that makes us even more proud to be British."

The speech comes amid concern from several city experts that Mr Brown will have to break his 'golden rule' of only borrowing to invest over the course of an economic cycle. They have been warnings of a black hole in the public finances.

Employers' body the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said Mr Brown would have to curb spending or increase taxes to the tune of seven billions pounds a year over the next economic cycle to make up the difference.

Mr Brown for his part has pledged the books will be balanced without breaking the economic fundamentals.

Ian McCafferty, the CBI's chief economic adviser, said tax rises would be "extremely damaging" to UK competitiveness.

Over 100 businessmen, economists and academics signed a letter to the Financial Times on Tuesday calling for tax cuts as the key to unleashing enterprise.

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