Press Centre

BENCHMARKS FOR BRITAIN

Not normally one for sightseeing, John found himself at the British Museum on Tuesday morning.

Rubbing shoulders with David Cameron he watched Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, set out the eight Tory party economic ‘Benchmarks for Britain’, which they believe will allow us and those around the world to measure the performance of the UK economy.

One of the major pledges is to retain the UK’s AAA credit rating. Others include a promise to cut the UK budget deficit as quickly as possible, rebalance the economy, lower youth unemployment, improve Britain’s ranking regarding tax competitiveness, ensure better value for money for taxpayers, lower emissions via the introduction of low carbon technology as well as the creation of a safer banking system. These are obviously vital pledges at the heart of the Tory Party’s economic strategy and, on the surface, they look to be very sensible in the current economic climate. However, as we have seen in the past, what many opposition parties promise today is not always what they deliver if they eventually gain office. Will David Cameron and his team be any different?

Leading business figures who are said to think this new model represents Britain’s future include: Easyjet founder, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, Virgin Chief Exec, Stephen Murphy; Kingfisher Chief Exec, Ian Cheshire and GlaxoSmithKline Chief Exec, Andrew Wittey.

On return to the office John said, “Well, it all sounded very admirable but, yet again, there was no real substance. So, we will have to sit back and endure the electioneering brinkmanship in full flow, instead of hearing about what fiscal and monetary policies will be applied in real terms to save this country from economic disaster!”