U.K.’s Cameron Says He’s ‘Sick of Anti-Business Snobbery’
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron will urge corporate leaders to defend business and the free markets from “dangerous rhetoric,” less than a month after his government stripped banker Fred Goodwin of his knighthood.
In a speech in London to charity Business In The Community, Cameron will attack the idea “that wealth creation is somehow anti-social,” arguing that “business is not just about making money, as vital as that is; it’s also the most powerful force for social progress the world has ever known.”
Cameron has attacked business himself in recent months. In January he effectively ordered a government committee to examine whether former Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc chief executive Goodwin should keep his knighthood. Two weeks later it concluded he shouldn’t.
Today he will say that recent attacks on companies such as Tesco Plc for offering unpaid work experience places to the unemployed have gone too far.
“Put a young person into college for a month’s learning, unpaid, and it’s hailed as a good thing,” Cameron will say, according to his office. Put a young person into a supermarket for a month’s learning, unpaid, and it’s slammed as slave labor. Frankly I am sick of this anti-business snobbery.”
Earlier in the day, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Business Secretary Vince Cable announce a further 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) of government money for the Regional Growth Fund, which is designed to help companies invest in projects that create jobs.
At the Business In The Community event, Lloyds Banking Group Plc will say it is seconding up to 20 senior staff to act as advisors for the charity, helping small companies and young people.
To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net.
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