David Cameron has said a "big, bold" welfare shake-up will be at the heart of the Tory conference in Manchester aimed at "getting Britain working".

He told the BBC the New Deal would be among schemes replaced by personalised help to get the jobless and those on incapacity benefit into work.

Mr Cameron said the theme for the conference was "to get Britain working again" and said tackling the debt and jobs crisis facing Britain were the key priorities.

He said that the welfare reforms would use tax reform and deregulation to help employers take on new staff and encourage the creation of businesses.

David Cameron denies UK is in 1930s-style slump

David Cameron has denied the UK is in a 1930s-style slump, but said more will be done to get the economy moving.

He told BBC News the government would use its "financial strength" to help homeowners and businesses get low interest rates.

Infrastructure projects and more housing will help boost the UK economy, the prime minister said.

Speaking in Mexico at the G20 summit, Mr Cameron promised an "active, sleeve-rolled up government".

David Cameron: no end in sight for austerity

David Cameron doesn’t “see a time” when the government’s austerity programme will end.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Cameron says that he now expects the crisis in the eurozone to drag on for years, blighting the British economy.

He indicates that the programme of spending cuts, initially planned to take five years, is now likely to last for the entire decade.

Mr Cameron insists that he still wants to cut tax but that any reductions would have to be funded by even greater public spending reductions.

Asked whether the austerity programme would now last a decade until 2020, the Prime Minister replies: “I think it’s going to be...this is a period for all countries, not just in Europe but I think you will see it in America too, where we have to deal with our deficits and we have to have sustainable debts. I can’t see any time soon when…the pressure will be off.

“I don’t see a time when difficult spending choices are going to go away.”

UK Q2 GDP slumps

British economic output shrank much more than expected in the second quarter of 2012, as unusually wet weather and an extra public holiday weighed on an economy already hit by the euro zone debt crisis and government austerity, official data showed on Wednesday.

The Office for National Statistics said Britain's gross domestic product fell 0.7 percent in the second quarter of 2012 after contracting by 0.3 percent at the start of the year, much worse than forecasts for a 0.2 percent contraction.

Britain tipped into its second recession in four years at the end of last year, and the latest figures mark a third consecutive quarter of contraction.

The dire news will keep the heat on finance minister George Osborne, under pressure to get the economy growing again after a crisis that has left many Britons poorer as rising prices and higher taxes ate up meagre wage increases.

The contraction in GDP was the sharpest since the first quarter of 2009, and the ONS said that British economic output was now 0.3 percent lower than when the coalition of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats took power in Q2 2010.

dereg­u­la­tion to help employ­ers take on new staff

Oh God, I guess this means more doleys as free employees for tesco again huh?

andyh wrote:
Using forced labour to perform jobs companies otherwise have to properly employ people to do helps to 'get the economy moving'. Or something.

Osborne will give '110% attention' on getting economy moving

I think the Governor of the Bank is right on the big picture, which is the economy is healing (based on what evidence?), but it is a slow and difficult (and non-existent) process and we're dealing with some very deep-rooted problems at home (well, I can agree with you there) and some storms from abroad, but the deficit is down (total debt is still increasing, there are no viable plans whatsoever to even come close to breaking even, let alone run a budget surplus), inflation is coming down (this is akin to saying "the dam is breaking at a slower rate"), growth is disappointing (yes, there isn't any!) and now we've got to have the undivided attention of the Government to do everything possible to get the economy moving (well, you've had three years. All you've done is close stuff down and bail banks out).

I think the Government now has an opportunity to give its 110% attention and effort and energy to getting the economy moving (yep, you've said that before. Several times. What were you giving your attention and energy to previously? Apart from getting beaten up by prostitutes...btw, you can't give 110% attention to something, by definition the most you can give is 100%) and using time available in Parliament to do just that (by doing what?).

When you look at what the Governor of the Bank is saying today, he is saying the economy is healing (that's an interesting interpretation) - I think that's significant (no, it isn't) - but there are still many challenges (again, I can agree with you there) and the job of the Government is to address those challenges(again, I'm in agreement), that's precisely what we're going to do(not quite so convinced here).

btw, you can't give 110% attention to something, by definition the most you can give is 100%

The Bank of England has cut its growth forecast to close to zero from about 0.8% predicted in May, as the double-dip recession intensifies.

The quarterly inflation report indicated no growth for 2012, compared with 2% predicted a year ago.

The data had fuelled anticipation for an interest rate cut, but Governor Sir Mervyn King dismissed calls for a reduction in the near term.

He said recovery hopes had consistently been dashed.

wake_up_bomb wrote: Foul! I thought you liked football WUB. Of course you can give it 110%

In other but related news:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19174649

The Bank of England has cut its growth forecast to close to zero from about 0.8% predicted in May, as the double-dip recession intensifies.

The quarterly inflation report indicated no growth for 2012, compared with 2% predicted a year ago.

The data had fuelled anticipation for an interest rate cut, but Governor Sir Mervyn King dismissed calls for a reduction in the near term.

He said recovery hopes had consistently been dashed.

wake_up_bomb wrote: Foul! I thought you liked football WUB. Of course you can give it 110%

UK trade deficit at 15-year high

The UK's trade gap widened sharply in June, to its worst level since comparable records began in 1997.

The deficit, which measures how much imported goods and services exceed exports, rose to £4.3bn in June from £2.7bn in May.

Government borrowing remained unchanged last month, official figures revealed today, amid growing expectations that the Chancellor will abandon his deadline to start lowering UK debt within three years.

Public sector net borrowing, excluding financial interventions such as bank bailouts, was £14.4 billion in August, equal to borrowing in the same month last year.

The stubborn figures will pile pressure on George Osborne, who is widely expected to announce in his autumn statement in December that the Government will be unable to start bringing down debt as a percentage of GDP in 2015/16.