PM Hails Business As 'Country's Job Engine'

David Cameron has hailed business as "the country's job engine" as he unveiled plans to help expanding firms through the financial "valley of death".

The Prime Minister said a Tory Government would launch a financing scheme to help the country's 500 fastest growing companies.

Mr Cameron made the pledge during a speech to the British Chambers of Commerce annual conference where he outlined a series of steps taken by the Government, which he said had helped support business.

And he warned companies had reason "to fear the alternative" in a sideswipe at the opposition, which has faced claims of being anti-business.

The PM argued a Labour government would mean "more borrowing, more debt, higher interest rates, a loss of confidence in Britain".

In an apparent move to spike opposition accusations of a "cost of living crisis", Mr Cameron also called on business leaders to pass on the benefits of economic growth and low oil prices to staff.

He said economic success should be reflected in the contents of workers' pay packets.

"Put simply - it's time Britain had a pay rise," the PM told the conference.

Unions have dismissed his call as "pre-election mood music".

But Mr Cameron rejected criticism that he was pressing for private firms to increase wages while limiting public sector pay.

He said: "Within the public sector we have actually seen quite a lot of pay increases through progression, through people taking on new skills and talking on new tasks.

"And we have seen that take place, for instance in the NHS, so that people have had pay rises, in many cases year on year."

Outlining Conservative plans for the so-called Help To Grow scheme, Mr Cameron said the Business Bank has identified a £1bn-a-year finance gap preventing businesses from expanding.

The initiative would help firms span this "valley of death" funding gap, he added.

A pilot scheme will be launched at the upcoming pre-election Budget using £100m from the British Investment Bank.

Mr Cameron also announced that if the Conservatives win the May poll, they would increase from 50% to two-thirds the proportion of business rates that can be kept by local councils, aimed at encouraging them to support commercial development.

He told the business audience this would be "a further big incentive to get councils on your side and get Britain building".

In Nick Clegg's speech to the conference, he urged businesses to smash the glass ceiling for women and called for a million more female workers in employment by 2020.

The Deputy Prime Minister told the audience: "If we are to stand a chance of smashing that glass ceiling we need British business to hold the hammer.

"If we can unlock the talents of women, British business will boom."