CBI boss urges Sunak to show more ambition on economy

theguardian.com:

The head of the UK’s leading business organisation is to call for Rishi Sunak to show more ambition on the economy, warning that the country risks being left behind on green growth and that a cull of EU laws could scupper a recovery.

While stressing that he did not want to be seen as a “doomster or gloomster”, Tony Danker, director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), is to use what the organisation is billing as a “major” speech to call for action on several fronts.

The comments, while carefully worded and pitched by the CBI as a positive set of ideas rather than direct criticism, will nonetheless be widely seen as a rebuke to No 10 and the Treasury.

Speaking at University College London on Monday, Danker will praise Sunak and the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, for stabilising the economy after the impact of Liz Truss’s disastrous autumn mini-budget, but will add that both now need to be more proactive.

Public services like the NHS, schools and transport require more investment, Danker will say, according to extracts of the speech briefed in advance, adding: “But there isn’t any more money, because there isn’t any growth.”

He will say there is a “denial of where our economy is right now compared to our international competitors” which risked the UK suffering through limited ambition. “The current CBI forecast is that the prime minister should comfortably hit his pledge of getting the economy growing by the end of the year, by 0.1%. But my argument is that if our policies today aim for 0.1% growth, it’s the most we’ll ever achieve.”

The speech is particularly damning on green-based growth, with Danker saying that “the UK is falling behind rapidly to the Americans and the Europeans, who are outspending and