PM pledges business recovery help
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that Britain is "overcoming" the recession and promised the Government will do everything it can to help British businesses take advantage of the "enormous" opportunities of the future.
Mr Brown was speaking as the Government published a "strategic plan" to invest in Britain's economic and industrial future, maintaining that firms can take advantage of major new opportunities as the world economy emerges from recession.
Ministers said they wanted to set out areas where Government action can have most impact, aimed at speeding recovery and building manufacturing and services.
Mr Brown said this included agreements with the banks to lend more to business, cutting red tape in planning, and state investment in transport infrastructure, communications, education and science.
And he said he was looking at the case for establishing a Bank for Industry and Innovation to provide finance for risky start-up businesses.
Speaking at Loughborough University, Mr Brown said: "Britain works best when Britain works together. Our industrial policy is about a dialogue with business, leading to a consensus about what we in Britain need to do to face this global future, and then of course a partnership for the future that I believe is to the benefit of all.
"We have difficulties that we are overcoming, but we have also got enormous opportunities and challenges ahead. Working together, we can meet and master every challenge."
