BUSINESS secretary Vince Cable has told TheBusinessDesk.com that private enterprise is sufficiently robust to drive growth and provide jobs for those who lose out in the public sector reforms.
Critics of Chancellor George Osborne’s plans to cut £81bn from Government spending over the next four years argue it is a huge gamble that could undermine the private sector and push the country back into recession.
In this week’s Comprehensive Spending Review Mr Osborne said 490,000 public sector jobs would go – some will be through natural wastage but there will be redundancies.
Asked if he thought business was strong enough to provide opportunities for the thousands of workers who will lose their jobs, he told TheBusinessDesk: “It already is.”
He added that regions such as the North West of England had been able to generate 50,000 new jobs during 2010 despite the country coming to terms with the banking crisis.
Mr Cable was speaking at the University of Manchester’s Core Technology Facility which houses hi-tech spin-out companies such as drug developer Renovo and nanotechnology business Nanoco.
He defended the decision to scrap regional support for high growth industries, such as advanced manufacturing, and hand responsibility to new national bodies.
Mr Cable added: “Support was very fragmented and different RDAs were pursuing it in a very competitive way that wasn’t in the national interest.
“There will be support for advanced manufacturing and innovation but we will deploy it nationally. That makes better use of tax payers’ money.”
Mr Cable said the Government was close to approving applications for the Local Enterprise Partnerships that will replace the regional development agencies. “We’re talking weeks rather than months,” he said.
