British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday led his coalition government on a 'good news offensive' in the wake of last week's announcement of 81 billion pounds (about 124 billion U.S. dollars) worth of cuts in public spending and promised a "relentless focus on growth."

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron speaks during his address to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference in London October 25, 2010. Cameron focused on how to boost economic growth in a climate of deep public spending cuts in a speech to the CBI, a leading business group, on Monday. (Xinhua/Reuters)
Cameron told the annual conference of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) that his coalition government would push hard for growth, a message that went down well with his audience which was made up of businesses representing a third of all private sector jobs in Britain.

Cameron said he was "outlining a strategy for growth," and after a week of headlines dominated by the news of spending cuts, coming job losses, and the dangers of a double-dip recession, he added "this is an incredible opportunity ... for new start-ups to flourish, for innovation to drive growth and create jobs."

Cameron said he did not want to frame a debate on economic policy on the terms of "laisse faire" economics against "hands-on government" as government was centrally involved in the economy and it should create "an environment in which businesses are confident enough to invest."

He said that "to build new dynamism in our economy ... we've got to back the big businesses of tomorrow. That means opening up access to finance, creating an attractive environment for venture capital funding, getting banks to lend to small businesses again and insisting that a far greater proportion of government procurement budgets are spent with small and medium-sized firms."

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet