Cameron under pressure as cuts begin to bite

PRESSURE is building on British prime minister David Cameron to find new initiatives to revive the economy in the wake of riots across England this month as the harshest austerity programme in living memory starts to bite.

Cameron’s refusal to compromise on the pace of cuts is straining a recovery facing headwinds that Bank of England governor Mervyn King said are growing “by the day”.

As he presses ahead with reductions to welfare benefits and state jobs, accelerating inflation is squeezing incomes and growth is slowing across the world amid Europe’s intensifying debt crisis.