{"id":34529,"date":"2013-11-11T11:07:58","date_gmt":"2013-11-11T11:07:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=59da8adfa027b8d43b63feb2deb3a828"},"modified":"2013-11-11T11:07:58","modified_gmt":"2013-11-11T11:07:58","slug":"speech-danny-alexander-at-the-lloyds-business-summit-on-investment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=34529","title":{"rendered":"Speech: Danny Alexander at the Lloyds Business summit on investment"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Recovery<\/h2>\n

Good morning.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m very glad to be with you today\u2026<\/p>\n

At a time when our economy does appear to be on the mend.<\/p>\n

Not fully recovered\u2026<\/p>\n

But showing encouraging signs.<\/p>\n

Last month, the IMF revised UK growth up by more than any other G7 economy.<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago the latest GDP figures bought further welcome news\u2026<\/p>\n

But no one should think that because we\u2019re starting to see the signs of recovery\u2026<\/p>\n

That we\u2019ll forget the difficulties we\u2019ve left behind, or abandon the path that has brought us to this point. There is a long way to go to get back to the sort of growth we need.<\/p>\n

Over the last three and half years\u2026<\/p>\n

The government has worked hard \u2026<\/p>\n

Not just to take tough decisions\u2026<\/p>\n

But to take the right decisions.<\/p>\n

And one of our main priorities, has had to be to create the right conditions for more sustainable and balanced growth.<\/p>\n

The 2008 catastrophe and its fall out have been so profound, we know that we have to protect against another catastrophe on this scale.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a realisation that we have to re-embed two ancient disciplines back into our our public life.<\/p>\n

First, we have to live within our means.<\/p>\n

Second, that further prosperity depends on our ability to build more sustainable, balanced economic growth. <\/p>\n

Of course, while we can create those conditions\u2026<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the private sector that makes growth happen\u2026<\/p>\n

And the recovery we\u2019re starting to see is a result of the determination\u2026<\/p>\n

And the innovation\u2026<\/p>\n

And the sheer hard work of UK based businesses. <\/p>\n

Thank you.<\/p>\n

Right kind of recovery<\/h2>\n

For me, the most encouraging feature of the recovery we\u2019re witnessing\u2026<\/p>\n

Is that it has the hallmarks of being a balanced recovery.<\/p>\n

For too long we seemed to only look towards one city \u2013 and one industry \u2013 for economic growth. <\/p>\n

But growth is happening now across sectors.<\/p>\n

For the first time in 15 years, all four output sectors\u2026<\/p>\n

Industrial production, services, construction and agriculture\u2026<\/p>\n

Have grown in successive quarters.<\/p>\n

And growth is happening across the country.<\/p>\n

We need to work hard to continue this trend.<\/p>\n

So, that should one sector \u2013 or one region \u2013 experience a sudden decline or shock\u2026<\/p>\n

As happened in the financial crisis\u2026<\/p>\n

Our economy will be in a much stronger position to absorb it.<\/p>\n

Pace of recovery<\/h2>\n

Inevitably though, some commentators have criticised the pace of the recovery.<\/p>\n

But they miss the point – previous recessions have simply not been as deep as the one from which we are recovering.<\/p>\n

The severity of the recession also explains why we haven\u2019t seen earnings growth pick up as quickly.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s look at job creation.<\/p>\n

Our critics said that we would never compensate for the shedding of jobs in the public sector.<\/p>\n

They were wrong.<\/p>\n

You, in the private sector, have created jobs on a significant scale \u2013 a remarkable 1.4 million since the election.<\/p>\n

Not only have you compensated for the loss of public sector jobs \u2013 you\u2019ve achieved a spectacular job creation ratio of 3:1.<\/p>\n

There is another reality to face – a recovery without fairness would be hardly a recovery at all.<\/p>\n

Not having a job in these times would be the harshest unfairness of all.<\/p>\n

Unemployment is still too high, and there\u2019s clearly a lot more to do to continue the downward trend in unemployment, particularly for youth unemployment.<\/p>\n

Our work on creating over a million modern apprentices is key.<\/p>\n

But I am proud that we are navigating our way back to economic normality without soaring unemployment levels and the social damage that such a situation would wreak.<\/p>\n

Of course, by keeping unemployment much lower than in previous recessions<\/p>\n

We have seen the UK\u2019s output per worker \u2013 which is a key measure of our country\u2019s productivity \u2013 fall to a fairly low level too.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m of the belief that low productivity is an acceptable outcome \u2013 for a temporary period \u2013 if it is in part, the result of high employment. <\/p>\n

But in the long run, an increase in our productivity has to drive growth.<\/p>\n

Strong economic growth with rising productivity is the only sustainable way to permanently increase the living standards of our population. <\/p>\n

Short-term populist ideas that damage long-term investment make it harder to increase living standards. <\/p>\n

Instead, we have been building a more stable, competitive environment in which businesses can invest, grow, and create jobs, and share the fruits of that growth fairly.<\/p>\n

And so for our economy to become more productive, we need your help.<\/p>\n

We need you to invest.<\/p>\n

Business investment<\/h2>\n

To get the recovery fully entrenched,<\/p>\n

To get it into top gear,<\/p>\n

There\u2019s one thing needed now above all else.<\/p>\n

Investment.<\/p>\n

As a government, we\u2019re playing our part.<\/p>\n

As Chief Secretary to the Treasury, investment is my brief.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re building roads, power stations, flood defences, data networks. <\/p>\n

Only a few months ago, I announced the largest and most comprehensive plan of infrastructure investment for decades \u2013 a \u00a3100 billion plan to upgrade our roads, railways, broadband by the end of the decade.<\/p>\n

Your country needs you to invest too.<\/p>\n

I know that the deep uncertainty of the last few years has held back business investment. <\/p>\n

In fact, we know that companies are continuing to strengthen their balance sheets out of the credit crisis\u2026<\/p>\n

Total cash deposits held by non-financial private companies has risen by \u00a3104 billion since pre crisis levels\u2026<\/p>\n

And now sit at over \u00a3500 billion.<\/p>\n

But if businesses start to invest that money, it would make a huge difference to our economy.<\/p>\n

Just to illustrate that, had business investment risen by an additional 10% last year\u2026<\/p>\n

Then the level of GDP would be \u00a312bn higher.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s almost a whole percentage point on GDP growth.<\/p>\n

I know that uncertainty is the enemy of investment.<\/p>\n

I know that companies have felt the need to consolidate balance sheets.<\/p>\n

The fog of uncertainty is clearing.<\/p>\n

The economic outlook and forecasts are improving.<\/p>\n

In government, we doing all we can to increase certainty.<\/p>\n

We have a strong clear fiscal strategy.<\/p>\n

We have a Bank of England with a clear policy expressed through \u2018forward guidance\u2019 and we have introduced a set of measures to make that investment easier.<\/p>\n

We are:<\/p>\n